Finding You on the Corner
by Melissa Schmitt
Summary: A story about how three wastelands learn to trust each other and form a team. A bounty hunter team. This is a prologue to Shots Fired.
1. Chapter 1

_I do not own Fallout. Just my own ideas and characters. All Copyright goes to Bethesda. _

**Warning: Mentions of male on male rape. No scenes of it, it's just mentioned. Most of it is in this chapter, it's sometimes mentioned in future chapters. If you do not like, then I'm sorry. It was mentioned in Shots Fired, and it's about someone's past. Please don't hate me. **

* * *

**Nattie**

_Finally_. I thought. _I've made it to New Vegas._ I stood in front of the Freeside gates. After fixing my brown hair that was pulled back into a long ponytail, I opened the gates. I looked around the small city that looked dull compared to the New Vegas lights. I headed towards the New Vegas entrance before my thoughts were brought to the sound of yelling in one of the allies. It wasn't something odd in Freeside. There were always thieves and thugs around here. I quietly walked into the alley, keeping close to the wall as I looked for the fight.

"It's time to pay up, kid." A male voice said deeply.

"It's past pay day." Another growled.

"Oh, come on, guys. You'll get your money. I just-" A new, younger voice said calmly.

"Did you even get the contract fulfilled?" The second guy interrupted. I leaned against the wall and peeked around the corner. Four guys had the younger one trapped against a wall. Two of the guys had guns in their hands. The other two had knives twirling in their fingers.

"No, I wasn't able to kill the asshole." He was leaning against the wall comfortably, but his voice shook a little. I wasn't sure who to help, if I should help at all.

"This is the second contract, kid. And you haven't paid us in six months."

"Can't I get a second chance?"

"You've already had your second chance, Jason. You've had four chances."

"How about a fifth chance?" He smiled.

One of the guys started walking towards the guy now known as 'Jason'. "Why you punk ass-"

"I wouldn't take any more steps. Actually, go ahead, I'll shot you all anyway." 'Jason' shrugged with a cocky smile, holding out his gun.

"Get him!" The leader, I assumed, who kept calling him 'kid' yelled. The two with knives ran at him. One of the guys holding a gun pointed it towards the back of Jason's head as Jason aimed his gun at another attacker. "Don't shot." He said quietly, so Jason wouldn't hear.

_I think I've decided who to help._ I smiled. Jason shot one of the guys but wasn't quick enough to shot the other. The gun was ripped from his grasp and he was punched in the face. Jason punched him back, but before he could give another blow, one of the men grabbed his arms. The other guy he was about to punch went behind him and helped keep him subdued. The leader made his way to stand in front of Jason.

"Have you calmed down, kid?" He slightly lowered so he was face to face with Jason.

"Get out of my face, asshole." Jason growled.

"Oh, Jay, I'm hurt." He said with fake emotion. "Let me show you how much it hurts." His expression suddenly turned dark. He pulled his fist back and started punching Jason in the face. Again and again. It looked like he'd never stop. After five of his punches, Jason had fallen to his knees. The leader was about twice Jason's size, and Jason looked muscular. I couldn't imagine the pain of those hits. Pulling out my dual handguns, I spun out from behind the cover. I shot both guys holding Jason's arms in the head and watched them fall limply. Seeing he was free, Jason jumped up and punched the leader and they both fell to the ground. It was Jason's turn to attack him with several strikes in the face. Feeling satisfied, he reached for his gun and shot the leader in the face twice before standing up and glaring down at the dead body.

He turned around to look at me with his pistol pointed at me. "Put your gun down." I ordered and narrowed my eyes, seeing if he'd do so. He had a lean, skinny body and tanned skin. His dark brown, almost black, hair was up in a short fauxhawk. His eyes were a dark blue, a few shades darker than my own blue eyes. And right under his left eye was a small scar.

"Wow, babe. Nice guns." He lowered his weapon.

"Good." I did the same.

"Demanding, aren't you." He smiled and looked me up and down. "I always love girls who can kick my ass, and let me tell you, there aren't many who can."

I gave him a half smile. "Should we see if I'm a rare girl who can..._Jason_?"

"How do you know my name? Man, have I already fucked you? Shit, babe, I'm sorry-"

"No, you haven't already _fucked_ me." I crossed my arms. " But now I know what kind of an ass you are. Do you forget all the girls you sleep with?"

"No, not all of them. So, if we haven't slept together, how do you know my name?"

"I heard one of them say it." I nodded to the dead bodies.

"Oh...how much of it did you see?"

"Pretty much all of it." I smirked.

"Damn, that's embarrassing…"

"I bet it is. Let's see if you alway fight that horribly." I crouched into a fighting position.

"Look, I don't want to hit a girl." He put his hands up.

"I'll go get surgery." I raised an eyebrow and my smile never faded.

He smiled back. "One round." He also moved into a fighting position. With a battle shriek, he ran at me. With quick speed, I combat rolled out of his way and crouched down behind him. Before he could turn around, I kicked his legs out from under him. After landing painfully, he grabbed my wrist and made me land next to him. He rolled over on top of me and pinned both my arms above my head with one of his hands.

"Wow, you're strong." I smiled up at him.

"And you're pretty damn quick." He nodded.

"I'm also pretty damn flexible." I smirked darkly. He smiled before realizing his mistake. He tried to act quickly, but not quick enough as I wrapped my legs around his neck. He released my arms to try and free his head. I quickly smashed the back of his head into the ground, but made sure it wasn't too hard of a smash. As he was dazed, I pulled my legs out from under him. I stood up and looked down at him to check if he was okay. He shook his head a little bit before standing back up.

"Wow, just wow, babe." He smiled when his vision cleared. "What are you doin' here, anyway? You could be out conquering the Mojave."

"It's my birthday, I was going to New Vegas."

"How old are you now?"

"Eighteen." I shrugged.

"I just turned nineteen. What's your name, big eighteen year old?"

"Nattie."

"Well Nattie, may I accompany you to New Vegas?"

"I'm not completely sure I can trust you. Besides, what if you just want to come along so you can have fun tonight?"

"Your flexibility is quite turning on, but I just want to hang out. You're a pretty cool chick. Besides, I couldn't forgive myself if I leave a young eighteen year old girl with a body like yours all alone in Vegas."

"Fine, you can come along. But if you move out of line, I'll kick your ass again."

"Deal."

* * *

"Did you know that there were old-world rules about drinking and having sex?" Jason put his now empty vodka bottle down.

"What?" I asked and took a sip of my whiskey.

"People couldn't drink until they were twenty one. And you couldn't have sex until you were eighteen. So, you'd be of age now." He smiled.

I gave him a half smile. "Well, it's good we don't have those laws anymore. You wouldn't get by very well."

"I'd probably kill myself with those laws." He laughed and took a gulp of his new drink that the bartender brought to him. Our laughing was interrupted as we heard a loud smack. We both turned around in our bar stools to see what was going on. There was a big, round guy glaring down at something on the ground. He bent down and a small, pained scream came from the smaller boy he pulled off the ground by his light brown hair with bangs that covered his eyes. He looked about my age. Acting as if nothing happened, the guy put his arm on the boy's shoulders. His thick arm looked almost like it would break the boy.

"Poor kid." The bartender said behind us. I looked back at him as Jason continued to figure out what was happening.

"What's going on. Who are they?" I asked.

"Baby, you have no idea. They have a hotel room upstairs. They come down here to the bar almost every night. That guys comes and shows off this kid. I guess the boy isn't suppose to talk, because everytime he does, the man slaps him..._hard_." He emphasized.

"Poor kid…" I repeated and looked back at the scene.

"That's sick. I'm guessing rape." Jason stated. "Sick fuck…" He started to rant about the guy quietly.

"He's so cute." I heard the guy say to another man as he squeeze the boy's face before patting his cheek quite harsh fully. "Come on." He suddenly pulled the kid along in an unkind manner.

"Let's go." I said quietly and slung my backpack over my shoulders before following them off.

"What are we gonna do?" Jason walked up next to me.

"Help him."

"What if he doesn't want help?"

"Did he look like he liked it at all?" I snapped at Jason. "You said it yourself, 'rape'." We watched them walk into an elevator. "Hold the door, please!" I quickly run over to the almost closed doors.

"Here you are, ma'am." The guy had the doors open again. "What floor?" He asked when Jason and I got into the elevator.

I spotted that his destination was the fourteenth floor. "Uhh, fourteen." I answer.

"Cool, that makes it easy." The guy kept an interested expression locked on Jason.

"How much do you weigh, kid?" He grabbed Jason's bicep.

"Uhh...about 151…" He said, hiding the discomfort.

"Are you two a couple?" He looked between Jason and I.

"Yes." Jason said before I could answer.

"How much do you weigh, ma'am?"

I waited for a moment before answering. "Around 135, I think."

"Hmm...when was the last time you two, you know, got it on?" His question was mostly pointed to Jason. Jason's mouth gaped open and he looked at me. I stared at him with wide eyes and shrugged. "Oh, here we are. I'll see you two around." He said as the door opened and pulled the silent boy out.

"He makes me sick." Jason whispered to me as we walked the opposite direction. "Sorry, I thought saying we were together would help and maybe he'd leave us alone. He made me feel uncomfortable."

"It's fine." I shrugged and watched the guy roughly shove the boy into their room.

I walked over and crouched next to the door. I carefully put my ear against the wood and listened to what was happening inside.

"What did I tell you yesterday!?"

I heard a small mumble.

"No, I won't accept an apology this time!"

I quickly searched in my backpack. Finding a screw driver and a bobby pin, I started working the lock. My heart was pounding uncontrollably. I needed to get in there, I kept wondering what would happen, but the man sounded mad. He sounded _pissed_. I had to try and keep my hands from shaking so I wouldn't drop the pin or screw driver, or make the man aware of our whereabouts. I finally heard the small click. I quietly pushed the door open and crawled inside to crouch beside the couch. Jason silently closed the door and hid behind the bar.

Knowing he was yelling at the poor boy in the bedroom, I quietly whispered to Jason. "Make a distraction, knock over a bottle or something." He nodded and grabbed an empty bottle from the bar and looked at me. I nodded and he smashed in on the ground. He stood up as the man walked out of the bedroom. He still looked furious.

"You? What are you doing in here? How did you get in here?"

"I, uh, I saw someone sneak in and I thought I should help. They ran off." He motioned to the door.

"Oh really, well thank you." He smiled. When he was too focused on Jason as they talked and his back was to me, I sneaked into the bedroom. The boy was sitting in the corner with his knees pulled up to his chest. He had his face down and covered by his knees.

I walked over and crouched next to him. "Hey," I said softly. His head shot up and he looked at me fearfully. Before he could say anything, I placed my hand over his mouth gently. "It's okay. I won't hurt you. I'm just here to help. I'll get you out of here." I smiled kindly.

"Really?" He asked when my hand was removed.

"Yes, I promise." I assured him as we stood up. "Come on." I pulled out my hidden knife that The Tops front desk hadn't taken. He walked over to the dresser and grabbed a small pistol.

"He pays The Tops to keep it here." He shrugged. We snuck to the bedroom door and I looked to see where he was. He had poured two glasses of alcohol and held something behind his back. I gasped at the sight. It was some kind of pill. He was going to drug Jason. The man grabbed the drink and dropped the pill in after pointing at something for Jason to look at and walked behind the bar next to Jason and handed him the drink. That was all I could see as he now had the perfect view of us.

"Uhh, we're kind of trapped now." The boy pointed to the door in the back of the room. The knob twisted after the door was unlocked. "His men are coming in."

"Shit…" I whispered. "Would he be mad if you went out there?"

"I don't think so, as long as I stay silent." He shrugged.

"Keep the gun hidden and go out there. Close the door." I told him. He looked at me for a second before finally stepping out of the room and closing the door.

_Please be a quiet fight, please be a quiet fight..._

* * *

**Jason**

"Oh, Neil, something you need?" The man asked when the boy walked out. He shook his head in response. "Okay, well you may have a drink." The man gave him permission. I was surprised he didn't even ask if the boy wanted anything. But I guess that's just the kind of guy he is. I took a sip of my drink and the boy's, now known as Neil, eyes widened and he shook his head. I gave him a confused look and pointed to the bedroom door. Thankfully, the man was still looking under the bar's counter. I stepped around him and started to the couch. "Where are you going?" The man said loudly, in a worried tone.

"To go sit down, sorry. Is that okay?"

"Oh, yes. That's fine." He said and went back to searching for whatever he needed. I sat on the couch and Neil sat beside me. Him and I took turns looked behind us to see the man.

"Where's Nattie?" I whispered.

"Still in the room. His men were coming in through the back." He responded quietly.

"Shit, you're a lot of trouble, I hope you know that. We were planning to get you out and kill him quietly. That isn't going to happen." I took another sip of the drink.

"W-wait-" I pushed him over before he could say more when the guy looked back up and over to us.

"How's the drink, Jason?" He walked over and sat between us. He handed Neil a drink and took a sip of his own.

"Good, thanks." I took another sip. Neil gave me a worried look again.

"Neil, I made sure to get your favorite." He elbowed the boy. Neil looked up at the man for a while before looking down at the drink in his hand.

"I-I'm not-" It was barely a whisper.

"Drink it!" He snapped and glared at Neil who finally took a small sip. "More than that, boy. Come on. I got you your favorite. I wasted time to get what you always like." Neil drank the whole drink in one gulp and tried to hide his face of disgust. I also finished my drink and tasted a small amount of powder. I was happy the man was focused on Neil as I crinkled my nose.

Suddenly, there was a loud noise of something getting rammed into the bedroom wall. We each had our gaze locked on the door. An unrecognizable man walked out. He was then followed by another unknown man who had his arm around Nattie's neck. She struggled weakly. She looked tired and somewhat scared. I finally noticed the blood gushing out of her leg and a knife sticking out from her shoulder. I was about to get up when Neil fell onto the floor with a thud.

"What the fu-" I stood up only to fall back down to the floor as my vision turned black.

* * *

**Nattie**

I woke up and looked around the room. I remember seeing Jason and the boy fall unconscious. Then something hit me in the head causing me to join them. I was laying on the ground with my wrists tied. I pulled at the rope, but they were well bound. Searching around my location, I found out I was still in a hotel room. They probably hadn't moved me at all. The boy was still here. He also had bound wrists as he laid between the couch and table. Something shifted and I turned to find Jason leaning against the wall. His eyes fluttered open and he looked around lazily.

"Jason," I whispered, relieved, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…" He yawned and looked down at his tied up wrists. "What about you? Are you okay?" He sounded worried as he crawled the best he could over to me.

I cringed and ground my teeth as I put too much weight on my shoulder. "I'll be okay. At least they took the knife out. We don't have a weapon, though." I shrugged.

"Your head…" He trailed off. "It's bleeding."

"They knocked me out. I guess they hit me quite hard, huh?" I tried to smile.

"I need to get you out of here." He started working the ropes around my wrists.

"Jason, they might come back in. And we can't leave him."

"Yes, we can. We'll come back, or something. He won't get killed by the sick mother fucker."

"Jason." I warned and pulled my wrists away from him.

"Fine." He looked away. I heard the boy groan as he started to wake.

"It's about time, Neil." Jason stated plainly.

'Neil' pushed himself up to his knees and looked over at us. "Sorry…" He apologized, seeing that Jason was mad.

"Don't be." I smiled.

"But you're in this because of me. You were just trying to be nice, but I got you caught. I should have remembered to tell Jason about the drink. And I should have left you the gun. Or at least helped you." He looked over at me with sad eyes.

"It's okay, it's not your fault."

"Yeah it is." Jason said angrily. "Go on, kid, continue with how it's all your fault."

I glared at Jason. "It's not his fault. He didn't know this would happen. If you were this sick guy's bitch, would you rather have the only people that can help you walk away?"

"No…but other people can help him. Benny owns the place. He can help, can't he?"

"No." Neil answered. "Isaak pays him extra not to care."

"Isaak?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, Isaak is his last name. He's never told me his first name though."

"And how do you know Benny won't help?" Jason challenged.

He silently looked between us.

* * *

**Neil**

"It's okay, Neil. You don't have to answer." Nattie said kindly.

"No, I want to hear this." Jason growled and glared at me.

"Well, one night, I escaped from this hotel room…." The flashback started.

I ran to the elevator and spammed the button. Thankfully, Isaak hadn't noticed I was gone yet.

"NEIL!" I heard him yell from the room.

_He knows now..._I thought. The elevator door finally opened. I barely saw him burst through our room's door as I jumped inside the elevator. I continued to hit the button that shut the doors until it was fully closed. The small room started to descend to the first floor. I started catching my breath as I watched the numbers go down. When it finally reached one, I didn't even wait for the doors to open fully as I started sprinting for the door. Some of his men in the casino spotted me and noticed I wasn't suppose to be out here. With their strict instructions to never kill but maybe wound, some of them pulled out their guns. I tried to run faster but I heard the loud bang and a stinging pain found it's way into my knee. I kept myself from screaming and fell to my knees. I tried to get up and heard someone walk over to me. I looked up to find a familiar checkered jacket.

"Neil!" I heard Isaak yell. Benny pulled out his famous handgun. He looked at me, then Isaak, then back to me.

"Please, Benny." I found myself pitiful as I begged. I hoped he'd shot Isaak, or something to help me.

He stared down at me. I saw a hint of sympathy.

_Please pick me over caps, please._ He chose the caps.

"He won't go anywhere, Isaak."

I felt two strong men pull me up by my arms. "No!" I yelled "No, let me go!" I pulled at my arms. Pain shot up and down my leg from my wounded knee.

"Shut up!" Isaak backhanded my face to silence my yelled as he stepped in front of me. "You'll pull that bullet out yourself without any painkillers tomorrow. And Benny, I'll pay you some extra caps for your troubles."

I was happy not many gamblers were there tonight. It was embarrassing to be dragged away. It was embarrassing to be looked down at as just some kid in need of pity.

* * *

**Nattie**

"I'm so sorry." I looked into his sad eyes. Jason was silent. "Hey, I promised you I'd get you out of here. And I never fail my promises."

* * *

**Hey everyone! For the people who read Shots Fired: how did you like it? Did it show a lot about Jason and Neil and their pasts? And for new readers: I hope you enjoyed that chapter and I hope you're intrigued to read more. So, Megan and I are going to write a new version of Shots Fired. And this story will have a lot of influence on it. So, I hope everyone liked the first chapter. If you have any comments, questions, concerns, and/or suggestions, please comment or PM me! Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

_I do not own Fallout. Just my own ideas and characters. All Copyright goes to Bethesda._

* * *

**Nattie**

I quietly walked over to Neil and started untying his wrists.

"Sure, help him first." Jason said, but I could hear the faint joke in his voice.

"He deserves it more than you. You've been acting like a teenage girl." I laughed. We suddenly heard something hit the door.

"The fuck is that?" Jason stood up. "Did the fat-ass lock himself outside?"

"Get down." I told Jason and lowered myself to the ground. "Don't make a noise." We waiting for someone to come through the door. A girl with unnatural red hair snuck through the door, quickly dashing into a dark corner. After a moment she emerged from the darkness.

"What the fuck is this? Am I interrupting an three-way? You guys understand how to do that right, because you're doing it wrong, you're supposed to take off your clothes."

"Who the hell are you?" I snapped.

"I really think the fat-ass locked himself outside and asked her to open it for him." Jason smiled.

"Aren't you a cutie." She smiled at Jason and walked over to him, bending down a bit, revealing a chasm of cleavage.

"I don't like the word cutie, but yeah. I am quite attractive, aren't I." He grinned at her, taking in every sight.

"I really hope she's not your girlfriend, because I think we could have some fun after this. If you'd like a Jet, Turbo, and Rayne cocktail that is."

"Oh, I'm intrigued. How about you take me out of here and then you can take me anywhere you want, babe."

"I have a job to do first."

"And what would that be?" I asked, glaring at her.

"Take a chill pill, girly. I'm a bounty hunter."

"Wow, I didn't know I had any competition."

"You're a bounty hunter?" Jason asked with a bewildered expression.

"Yes, sir, I am indeed." She looked over at me. "I always knew I had no competition." She smirked.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but are we getting out or not?" Neil asked quietly.

"Depends on what you can do for me."

"I can pay you caps. They aren't my caps, but there are some hidden in here. You have to know the code though. And I do." Neil looked up at her.

"I didn't mean that kind of payment, I've got plenty of caps." She winked at him.

He suddenly looked frightened as Jason smiled.

"See, kid. You can't live out here without paying with sex. At least she's a girl. A hot girl." Jason continued to eye her.

There were three quick rapts at the door. "Looks like the cavalry showed up." Rayne turned around as two men walked inside the room. "He's not here, but I found some captives. I'm not sure why the girl's here, he's not into girls." She looked back at us. "Let me introduce Ryker and Aiden."

"She was trying to break his bitch out." Jason stated plainly.

"Ah, I see. Untie them boys." Promptly the two identical men untied the remaining ropes.

"I would thank you, but I really don't feel like it." I stood up and crossed my arms.

"I don't mind, your friend will thank me plenty after tonight."

Jason smiled as he started to imagine the future coming night.

"Asshole." I growled at him. "So you're here to kill this sick fucker, Isaak?" I looked at Rayne.

"Yep." She stretched, revealing even more skin.

"Thank you, Neil. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be having my awesome night with her."

"Shut the fuck up." Neil said a little louder then I thought he could talk.

I rolled my eyes. "Isaak will be back any moment. We'll leave and let you do whatever you like." I limped out the door as Neil followed me.

* * *

**Jason**

"Any of you have a gun to spare?" I asked the three.

Rayne pulled out a .45 and handed it to me. "Of course."

"Thanks, babe." I messed with the gun a little. Hearing a door open in the bedroom, I looked back over at Rayne. "There's your man. Or maybe him and a lot of his men."

"Under the bed." She ordered as she began to remove her clothes. She pale skin had multiple intricate tattoos drawn out across her body.

I slid under the bed and looked over at the closest twin. "What is she doing?"

"What she does best: look hot. And also look like a prostitute." He smiled. "You're lucky you got that side, you can watch her."

I smiled. "This is exciting."

She was now only wearing her black bra and thong. The man walked into the room, clucking along. "What? Who the fuck are you? What happened to the three that were in here?"

She took a step closer to him. "Benny had them taken out, there in a different room ready for your command. He sent me up here to relax you some, I hope that's okay. Would you send your men out, so we can have some _private_ time?"

He smiled. "Of course." He snapped his fingers, ordering the men to exit the room.

"Just lay down on the bed and remove your pants, I've be over there in a moment."

"As you wish, my lady." He rested on the bed.

After a few moments I could feel a bit more weight added to the bed above us. He let out a grunt, and the weight was removed. "You're good to come out now."

I crawled out from under as the other two did the same."Wow, that was a nice, silent kill." I complimented.

"I'm a professional." She smiled as she picked up her pants off the ground. "Cut his finger off for me, won't you." She tossed me a knife.

"Most definitely." I kneeled down and started cutting his finger from his hand.

"Yeah, yeah. professional." I heard Nattie as she walked back into the room. "Neil wanted to make sure he was dead." Neil walked over next to her.

"I'm resourceful, are you jealous? Why wouldn't he be dead?" Rayne pulled her shirt over her head, barely covering more skin than what was already showing.

Nattie glared at her silently.

"I was just scared you couldn't do it." Neil answered. "He has always been kind of hard to kill. I would know…" He looked down.

"Or you're weak."

"Hey, leave him alone. You didn't live as someone's bitch." Nattie growled.

"And how do you know?" The smile faded from Rayne's face.

"Well did you? I can't imagine it being as traumatizing as this. You seem fine."

"On the outside, dear, on the outside. Mentally I'm fucked."

"Good, then I feel fine calling you 'bitch'."

"Maybe we should stop arguing." Neil offered.

Rayne ignored his comment. "I take pride in being called a bitch, it means I'm doing my job right. Hey, at least I can get men to fuck me, not some addict who can't even remember who he is."

"You fucking-" Nattie started.

"You're in no shape to fight. If you don't remember, you have two bleeding stab wounds." Neil grabbed her unhurt shoulder.

"That's right, listen to him, I wouldn't want you to chip a nail." Rayne smirked.

Nattie pushed Neil away and stomped over to Rayne before pulling her arm back and nearly punching her before I grabbed her wrist.

"Nattie." I warned. "I will drag you out of here myself."

"Fucking asshole. Don't touch me."

"I'll go get the caps for us, Nattie." Neil ran off to one of the walls.

"Can you grab me some?" Jason asked.

"No." Neil said emotionlessly. "You're with her, you don't need caps." He typed some numbers into a pad before a small door opened. He pulled out a bag of caps and walked back over.

"You and Jason should go die in a hole." She told Rayne.

"Let's go. She's not worth it. She already said she's technically-" Neil cleared his throat and stopped where he was. "Let's just leave it there."

Rayne stepped closer to him. "Say it." She tempted.

"I-I'd rather not…" He said quietly.

"Too late. Say it if you've got any balls left."

"Uh-I was going to say that you technically said you...that you were a whore who did anything for caps." He looked small compared to Rayne.

"You should watch your words, kid, next time you may not be so lucky. Luckily for you, I except my past."

I watched Neil's expression change. "Well, it's nice to find out you signed up to be a bitch. How much did you get a hour?"

"I was Benny's bitch, I got paid _very _well. I even worked for some of the other Chairmen. I wasn't a Gomorrah whore."

"First off: Benny should go die. He turned his back on a sixteen year old. Second: you look nothing more than a Gomorrah whore."

"That's a matter of opinion." Rayne pointed towards me. "And the looks don't matter, it's the fucking."

"Benny must have been desperate then." Neil snarled a little.

"You're no fun, babe." She pouted her lower lip. "I don't understand why you're so against me, are you gay?"

"No, people like you are just annoying. You remind me of Isaak a little too much."

"If my lips were around your dick, you wouldn't be having those thought."

"I doubt it." He crossed his arms.

"Let's test that theory." She smiled devilishly.

"I have a great idea." I suddenly spoke up. "Nattie, you and Neil should stay and hang out with us. Then-"

"Why the fuck would I want to do that?" Nattie glared at me.

"Because, then you can make some friends."

She looked from me to Rayne then back. "And I want to be her friend because…?"

"Come on, Neil wants some fun." I put my arm on his shoulders.

"No I don't." He said with a confused tone.

"Shut up, yeah you do. Please Nattie?"

"No."

"Rayne, what do you think of this idea? We can all hang out here in Vegas."

"I think, if I don't get to fuck something soon, I'm going to go get drunk, then fuck someone else." She crossed her arms. "Boys?"

"Whatever you want." One of the twins spoke up.

"I'm going to Gomorrah no matter what." The other twin replied.

"That's totally fine. And I promise, Rayne. I won't make you wait any longer." I smiled and grabbed Nattie's shoulder. "And we might get you fixed up."

"Fucking ass." She looked away.

"I already hate you." Neil stated to me.

* * *

**Neil**

We sat at one of Gomorrah's bars. I was surprised all of Isaak's men ignored that fact I was leaving The Tops. Rayne and Jason had already gone off to find a room as Nattie, one of the twins, and I sat at the bar.

"You must have a big tolerance." Nattie said to him.

"More than anyone could imagine. Not only do I have to put up with Rayne, but I also have to deal with Aiden."

"May I ask, does she always pick up guys?" I questioned.

"Yeah, always, sometime she even-" He stopped. "I shouldn't tell you that."

"Alright, well have you and her ever done anything? Or does she do anything with Aiden?"

"No, not me, but Aiden yeah. A few times."

"Nattie, will Jason make me do anything?"

"I hope not." She shrugged. "But Rayne doesn't seem like the type of person to do it when you say 'no'." She looked over at Ryker. "Right?"

"For the most part, as long as she's not too drunk, or if she's got her lips on someone else, you're safe for the time being."

"She doesn't seem like that bad of a person." Nattie assured. "Jason on the other hand, I don't know. Fuck me…" She rested her head on the bar counter. " I need another drink…"

"Don't hurt yourself." I looked at her through the corner of my eye.

"Drinks, and a lot of 'em." I heard Jason's voice slur. I turned to the opposite side of me where he placed caps down on the bar counter. "Vodka, beer, whiskey, I don't fuckin' care. Just give me a bunch of alcohol."

"Did Rayne get bored of you?" Nattie asked.

"Nope, we decided that some drinks would liven up the party. This is, like, the best night of my life." He smiled happily.

"Good to hear…" Nattie took a long drink of her whiskey.

"Where did you get all of those caps?" I asked while eyeing the giant pile of money.

"Rayne gave me some of her's. I also borrowed some from the bag you got from Isaak."

"Who said you could take any?"

"I didn't take, I borrowed." I pointed a shaky finger in my face.

"How much have you already drank?"

"I don't know, I've had a lot of jet though. I think I've had two beers." He answered calmly.

"You're going to get yourself killed." I stated.

"Let him." Nattie added. "Let Rayne drown in drugs and alcohol too."

"What a nice comment, babe." Jason smiled.

"I mean it." She glared and turned her back.

"You've known her for about twelve hours and she already hates you." I shook my head.

"Hey, most girls hate me within three hours."

"Why? Are you too fast in bed?" I hid my smile by taking a sip of my beer.

"Shut up, kid. Or I might just kill you. No wait, I know a bunch of gay men who'd love to rape a pretty boy like you." He nearly fell over.

"Jason!" Nattie turned and snapped.

"What? It's true. And stop protecting him." He pushed her a little.

The bartender brought a few more drinks over. "That's all your caps will buy." He told Jason.

"That's good, for now." He started picking up the bottles.

"Jason, I really don't think you and Rayne should drink all those. It'll kill you. If not tonight, you'll kill yourself from the hangover."

"I don't need any advice from a kid like you. Now grab the rest of the bottles and help me bring them up." He nodded to the last three drinks. I rolled my eyes before grabbing them and following him.

"Rayne! I got the drinks." He pushed the door open and placed the drinks down on a table. I looked around the cluttered room. Syringes were scattered as well as paper and clothing.

"Damn, what did you two do? Throw shit at each other?" I put the drinks down beside the ones Jason had.

Rayne stood up from the bed topless and walked over to us. "We were playing darts and I didn't have any darts, so we use what I had plenty of."

"What were you throwing that darts at?" I turned and saw the wall covered with syringes which answered my question.

"I suggested someone. But we decided to be nice, sort of." Jason smiled.

"Ouch…" I said quietly as I imagined what a syringe, used for drugs, would feel like.

"Trust me, it wasn't my idea to be nice." Rayne smile at me.

I turned right in time as one of the syringes flew right past my head and into the wall. Jason smiled and winked. "Gotcha, kid. And Rayne, if you'd like, I'll go get someone for shooting practice."

"I'd rather just fuck, we've had enough fun."

"You both have fun with that." I walked back out the door. _Gross_. I thought to myself and started walking back to the bar area.

* * *

**Nattie**

"How did you and him meet? You two are nothing alike." Neil stated.

"He _was_ nice, in the beginning. He was also kind of fun to hang out with. Funny, charming, attractive-" I stopped. "But whatever. He found a hot girl, so I'm considered nothing."

"I think your pretty-"

"Pretty isn't the same as hot, Neil."

"Nattie, I have a suggestion." Aiden spoke up as he walked into the room and sat down next to Ryker. "If you still like him, wait for Rayne to drop him to the curb."

"Does she always do that? Does she always drop boys on the curb?"

"I'd say he deserves to be dropped on the curb." Neil shrugged. "But that's the perfect time to go and talk to him. He'll probably be desperate."

"What kind of girl do you think she is? The marry and have children type? In all the time I've know her all she knows how to do is one night stands, I swear she doesn't even have a heart." Ryker added in.

"That's kind of sad…" I mumbled. "Well, thanks guys. I guess I'll do that. How long are you three staying in New Vegas?"

"Whenever Rayne's done. After that we're going after another contract."

"Bounty hunters." I heard Neil whisper in an irritated tone and take a sip of his drink.

"I've thought about being a bounty hunter." I turned and looked at him. "You get quite a bit of caps."

"But those caps are received after killing someone. Why would you want to do that?"

"Don't act like you haven't killed, or tried to kill, someone."

"I've killed two people and attempted murder four times. But they all deserved it."

"Then we'll kill those who deserve it."

He suddenly go quiet and focused on something ahead of him. "I'm not working with them…" He said as quiet as he could.

"Don't worry." I placed my hand on his shoulder.

"I don't really want to work with Jason either, but you really seem to like him so I-"

"I don't like him yet. I just want to find the old Jason. Relax, Neil. Nothing will happen. Hey, Aiden, do you like gambling? If you'd like some caps, you can have some of mine. I'd like to go try my luck."

* * *

**Neil**

"Hey, kid. You're still here." Jason slung his arm over my shoulder. "And hi, you. You're one of the twins. Hey, where's Nattie?" He slurred.

"She went off to-"

"Went off where?" His arms suddenly tightened around my neck.

"Hey! Ouch! She's still here!"

"Oh, good. Don't scare me like that."

"Will you let go?" I slid his arm over my head to release his grip.

"Stop being so uptight. Go get you dick sucked, man."

"No."

"Why no?"

"Because I don't want to."

"This is what I mean, you're too uptight."

"Why aren't you up with Rayne?"

He stared at me for a moment. "Funny story-"

"She got tired of you."

"Shut the fuck up! She didn't get tired of me!"

"I bet you caps she did." I crossed my arms.

"How many?"

"However many you 'borrowed' from me."

"Damn...I don't got those caps anymore, kid."

"I know, but you somewhat admitted I was right."

"Fuck you." He growled.

"Why don't you go clean yourself up. You smell like drugs, alcohol, and sex. Just like Rayne. And I'm not about to sit here and talk to you when you smell like that."

* * *

**Neil **(still)

Jason walked off to one of the bathrooms. Aiden and Nattie were still off gambling somewhere. And Ryker was still sitting at the bar. I watched Rayne come down and sit at the bar a few seats away. The smell of alcohol and drugs leaked off her.

"Damn, did you bathe in the vodka or something?"

"A little, Jason said he wanted to take body shots, but then I began laughing."

"That was definitely not the answer I was expecting. I also want to apologize for saying what I did earlier. I was just a little mad. I didn't mean to call you a whore or anything."

"I don't care, it's the truth." She shrugged.

"I don't understand you, much. I hated being called a fucking bitch. It was demeaning."

"Yeah, well, that's a compliment compared to some of the things I've been called. Don't sweat, kid, I don't hold grudges."

"That's kind of good to know. The whole reason I said sorry was fear for my life." I hid a smile.

"Wise choice. Where did everyone run off to?"

"Jason's cleaning up, and Nattie and Aiden went to go gamble."

"Ryker?"

"Not sure, he just walked away. He doesn't talk much about where he's going." I shrugged.

"That's cool, I'll find them in the morning. Shit, it already is morning."

"If you want to go rest, I'll find them." I offered. "I have nothing better to do."

"I'm way too high to sleep."

"How's the hangover? Did you even get one? Or are the drugs numbing the pain?" I held in a laugh.

"It hasn't hit yet; once the drugs wear off, I'll feel it."

"I told Jason not to do it. You'll probably kill yourself from the pain."

"Just another night. Hey kid, if we're being civil here, why don't you reconsider my offer, you are pretty cute. Not hunky, but cute."

I started thinking quietly. Part of me said, 'sure, why not?' The other part said, 'What if it's just like Isaak?'

"Sure, why not?" Won the battle in my head.

"Really? Are you sure?" She raised a thin black eyebrow..

"It doesn't seem that bad. Is it?"

"No, I'll be gentle. I'd like you to heal some first though, next time we meet we'll get it on."

"I kind of wonder what 'gentle' means to you. But, next time we meet, you don't have to be all that gentle. I was kind of raped by a dude for two years. But, it's a deal." I shrugged.

"Alright., I'll see you there, but right now I have to go grab my boys."

"Good luck with your bountying. Hey, who is your next target? Aiden didn't say who, he just said you were going after someone. Can I ask who it is?"

"Name's Frank, he's up in NCRCF. Ah, Powder Gangers, my favorite. Just a bunch of horney men."

"Do you know about this Frank? Is he a bad person or is just for caps?"

"He's a Powder Ganger, what do you think? He's not the best of guys, but I sure do enjoy killing a Powder Ganger."

"Well, sounds like fun, for you. Not so much for Frank. I, uh, I guess I'll see you around. I also need to go get Jason and Nattie. It was nice talking, like this, kind of. Don't get yourself killed. Or do, whatever you want to do. I'm bad at goodbyes, so, goodbye."

."Adios, kid. I'll catch you later." She winked at me and left the bar.

* * *

**Nattie**

"Shit, my head hurts…" Jason complained.

"I told you not to-"

"Shut up, kid. Or I'll rip your head off and show you what this feels like."

"Jason, be nice." I warned.

"But it's just so tempting to punch him."

"And I'll kick your ass like I have before." I looked at him through the corner of my eye.

"Anyway, you said you've thought about being a bounty hunter, right?" Neil changed the subject. We exited Gomorrah.

"Yeah, why?" I answered.

"And you don't really like Rayne, right?"

"Correct, I'm not really fond of her."

"I have the details to her next job, if you'd like to go do it yourself and get the caps before her."

"Who and where?" I smiled.

"Frank, he's a Powder Ganger. And she said he should be up in NCRCF."

"I know where that is." Jason said.

"Do you really want to do this? First of all: Jason, you're recovering from last night. Second: Neil, you said you didn't like killing people."

"Well, Powder Gangers aren't that nice of people."

"He's got a point. Can we please just do this? You can be the leader Nattie. I just really want to kill something and get some caps."

"Fine. we'll go." I rolled my eyes and started heading to NCRCF.

* * *

**Nattie**

"Here, Neil." I threw him a sniper rifle. "Are you good long range?"

"Yeah, I'm best a long range." He started looking through the gun's scope.

"Do you have most of your gun's back, Jason?"

"Yeah, I have them all." He shuffled through his bag as we walked.

"Good. Here's some more ammo, Neil." I through him the case of bullets.

"We need to get this kid a backpack and his own guns." Jason said.

"We will after the job." It was quiet for a moment as we walked further and further from the Freeside gates.

"So, how are we getting to NCRCF?" Neil asked.

"We follow this road south." I answered.

"How far?"

"Past Goodsprings."

"That's a long walk."

"If we need to stop, we can. But we can't camp anywhere. I'd like us to get there quickly. I don't know Rayne's tactics."

* * *

**Nattie**

We had been walking for about four hours and only stopped once for a break. "We're almost there. Careful over here, it's a Powder Ganger camp." I pointed to my left.

"Frank's a powder ganger. Should we check over there?" Jason asked.

"Rayne said she was going to the NCRCF. I don't think we should take any chances over there." Neil answered.

"I agree. Besides, Powder Gangers don't trust me much. If they see me, they'll shot at me and anyone else near me." I continued to look at my Pip-boy map.

"What did you do to get them so mad?" Jason asked.

"Stole some stuff." I said calmly before a loud gunshot was heard. "Get down." I ordered. I pulled out one of my handguns and looked around for the shooter.

"It came from the camp." Neil said.

"They must have seen me." I loaded my gun.

"Wait, I've got this." Neil said and aimed the sniper rifle. With one quick, silent shot, the shooting stopped.

"Nice hit." I complimented.

"I told you I was good at long range."

"Let's go before any of the his friends see." Jason said in a hurried voice. "The Powder Gangers don't like me much either." We walked on the road a little longer before we stepped off into the open ground.

"It's up ahead." I said. "Come on." We kneeled down into cover so we could see the camp. "This was a bad idea."

"Why?" Jason questioned.

"You and I can't be seen without pissing all of them off. With one sight of either of us, they'll call their whole gang on us."

It was silent for a while. "What about the kid?" Jason suggested.

"No. That's dangerous. I won't let Neil go in alone."

"Well how else can we get to this Frank guy? They don't hate Neil, they won't shot him."

"I already said no we're leaving." I stood up and was about to leave.

"I'll go. It can't be that bad. I'll keep the sniper rifle. As long as I don't step out of line, everything will be fine." Neil offered. "I'll find Frank then keep a watch on him. I promise, Nattie, it'll be fine." He got up and started to the camp.

I kneeled back down next to Jason. "If he gets killed, I'll murder you." I growled.

"Why do care about him so much?" Jason asked.

"Because I do."

"Do you like him?"

"He's cute, but that's not the reason. He reminds me of someone."

"Who?"

"You don't have the right to ask."

* * *

**Neil**

I walked cautiously as the gates slid open. There were fences on both sides of me leading me to a building. Standing by the door was a man. I walked cautiously over to him and watched his actions.

"Uh, hi, sir. This is NCRCF right?"

"The one and only. What are you looking for kid? We're not looking for more mouths to feed."

"I'm looking for a guy. Uh, his name is, um, Frank."

"We ain't got anyone here by that name." He thought for a second. "Oh, oh, I remember. Go see Eddie, go through this door and then turn to the left. Go into the large building."

I gave him a small look before responding. "Okay, thanks." I pushed the door open and followed the guard's directions before finding myself in front of a big building. I opened the door and looked around. _Eddie, just find Eddie...who's Eddie?_ I searched around, wondering who to talk to.

I walked up a set of stairs and found myself in a room with a desk.

"I'm glad you found it, I thought you may've got lost." A sultry voice cut through the silence. "Sit down while I finish some business."

I quickly sat down. _Shit, Nattie was right. This was a bad idea. _

She turned back to the man sitting in the chair behind the desk. "Come on Eddie, you don't need him, hell you don't even like him. Just let me take him off your hands and I reward you." She sat down on his desk.

"I'll consider it."

"No, I'm not going to wait, I'm going to do it either way. If you allow me to, a lot less men will end up dead, plus you will get certain _favors_."

"Fine, just get out. Just know, when I call, you come."

"Whatever you say, babe." She stood up, grabbed onto my arm, and pulled me out of the room. "Let's go, kid."

"Sorry…" I said quietly.

"How dumb do you think I am?" She pursed her lips.

"I-I don't know. I just knew Nattie would have been happy taking your job." I shrugged.

"You're going to end up dead." She crossed her arms. "Why do you want to please her so much?"

"That's not new information. And it's because she's nice. She helped me, unlike Benny."

"Boo fucking hoo. That's no reason to risk your life for her, if I let you have the target, he'd kill you."

"Not if I shot him first, from a distance."

"Just keep telling yourself that. I really should kill you now, but I'd rather leave you helpless. First of all, I'm not going to ever lay a finger on you unless it's in an aggressive way. And second, you're coming with me."

"What? Where?"

"To go get 'Frank'. I still can't believe you fell for that."

"Well you're a pretty good actor." I crossed my arms. "And, you know, just because I couldn't kill Isaak doesn't mean I completely helpless."

"I didn't say that. If you'd like to test me, you're going to end up in one of the cells."

"Sorry." I said again and looked at the ground.

"How about this, I'll let you take the job, if you succeed, you can take all the money, and then Nattie will praise you. I've already worked out everything with Eddie, now all you have to do is kill him."

"And what if I don't succeed?"

"I'll take it for myself." She shrugged.

"And there's no other catch? You won't do anything sneaky? I get to keep my gun _and_ knife?"

"Of course." She smiled devilishly.

I thought for a moment. "Fine, whatever. I just kill him and that's it? Where's he at?"

"That's your job, it's your bounty after all." She smiled and started to walk down the stairs.

"Great. Fuck, I don't even know who I'm killing. Will you tell me anything? Who he is? What he looks like? If it's even a guy?"

"Ask Eddie, kid, be resourceful."

"And what do I ask him? 'Who was that girl in your office earlier going to kill?'"

"I don't know, it's not my problem anymore. If you need a hint, go find Ryker or Aiden."

"Will you atleast give me their location?"

"They're both here, somewhere. I think Ryker's in one of the towers."

"You're enjoying this way too much." I walked out of the building. _Great, six towers to choose from. _I walked over to the closest tower and searched it for the familiar figure of Ryker. _Not that one._ I walked over to another, looking back and forth to see if anyone was paying attention, then looked for Ryker again.

"You look lost, need some help?" A firm hand was placed on my shoulder.

I turned around to see Ryker. "Not anymore. Hey, who was the guy on your contract?"

He smiled at me. "You know I shouldn't tell you that. But, luckily enough for you I knew Ray's plan. His name is Andy and he's over in cell block A taking a nap, Ray already drugged him, all you have to do is cut his throat. Also, don't worry about the Powder Ganger's in the area, they know the plan, they may want to watch though. Oh, and don't forget to remove his index finger or else you won't get paid. That is unless you're taking him in, which Ray would never do, you I can't give you advice on that."

"Right, sounds easy enough...and how many people are in the other cell block?"

"A probably has five to ten; B is mostly empty. As I said, you don't need to worry about being attacked, Ray helped you out the most she could without cutting his neck for you."

"Yeah, _don't_ tell her thanks." I pulled the knife out of it's holster on my leg. "But thanks to you, I now know exactly what to do. You seem like the only person with a good personality on Rayne's team."

"Thanks, but I'd recommend you get going, Aiden's a bit on the edge, since Ray took away his kill."

"His kill? That must suck...I wouldn't know what that feels like. I'm gonna get on with the target. Thanks." I walked over to the cell blocks. I pushed the door open and looked inside quietly. Silently closing the door again, I looked through the darkened room. On each side of me, there were two cells. They each contained a few bunk beds, some of which were knocked over. I found the target, Andy, sleeping on one of the beds. He was easy to find, considering he was the only one sleeping. At least, hopefully that was him. I opened the cell door and walked over to his sleeping form. Or drugged form. I placed the knife on his throat before quickly slicing through his skin. He didn't even make a noise as the blood spit out of his neck. I picked up his limp hand and separated his index finger from the rest of his hand. With that, I quietly rushed out of the cell blocks.

_That was easy._ I thought. I spotted Rayne walking through the camp. I quickly ran over to her. "See, got it. That wasn't hard at all." I threw the finger in the air before catching it.

"That's great to hear kid, I just want you to know that I get to fuck twenty-three dirty, smelly men, just so you could do that on your own." She fake smiled.

My smile faded. "I'm sorry. You don't have to do that. Can't you pay them some other way? I didn't-I don't-look, I'm sorry. Please don't put yourself through that."

She leaned forward and placed a finger under my chin. "Aww, don't worry kid, I'll be fine. A small price to pay for happiness. I've done worse before anyways."

"But, I don't want you to do that for _me_. I know what that's like, sort of. And I can't think of you doing it. I mean, you have but this time it's for me. And that makes me feel bad. That makes me feel like a fucking...fucking…" I thought for a moment. "I don't know, a fucking…" I continued trying to think of a word.

"Shh." She placed her lips on mine, after a few second she removed them. "There are we better now? Don't feel bad, I'm fine. I just expect Nattie to stay off my back in the future."

I smiled. "Mind if I ask your next contract?"

"In your dreams, babe." She let out a small laugh as her hand brushed my crotch.

"Do you go to New Vegas a lot?"

"Much as I can." She stepped closer and whispered in my ear. "I'm not actually going to fuck all those men, just Eddie. But I like to see you powerless and afraid."

"Well, I admit you're a good liar. You got me twice in one day." I rubbed my arm. "If I see you in Vegas, please don't aim a gun at me if I walk over, okay?"

"Alright, babe. Well, I gotta go, catch you later." She motioned towards the twins and walked off towards the exit, which also acted as the entrance, hips swaying.

When Rayne and the twins were out of sight, I looked down at the finger. _Disgusting. _

* * *

**Nattie**

"I killed him." Neil said as he walked over to us.

"Wow, that's didn't take long." Jason stated. "What's that?" He pointed to my hand.

"The guy's finger."

"I guess we've got to bring it to the bounty hunter station, or whatever it's called, to get out money."

"Good job, Neil." I smiled. "How was it in there?"

"Fine. Rayne was there. But it didn't go badly." He shrugged.

"Well, that's good I guess. Come on. I'm hungry. And I don't really want to sit by this camp any longer. And on the way, I'd like to hear what Rayne did when she saw you."

* * *

**Hello everyone! I hope you are all enjoying the story and hopefully you all read the second chapter because the first was interesting. If anyone has any comments, questions, concerns, or even suggestions for this story or a new story, please comment or PM me. **


	3. Chapter 3

_I do not own Fallout. Just my own ideas and characters. All Copyright goes to Bethesda._

* * *

**Nattie**

It had been a couple months. We had already fulfilled eight contracts. And the last one was the best one. It felt so satisfying.

Jason, Neil, and I were waiting for a caravan to show up. However, this wasn't a usual caravan. Instead of it hauling items around, it hauled a person around. This person was our target. Apparently, it was Rayne's target too. When we noticed them coming, I had Jason run out as a distraction. He ran behind the caravan aiming his gun as if he'd shoot. They knew if Jason was around, we were too. But instead of shooting the target, Jason shot at them. It was a plan to surprise them, it did kind of work. She had Aiden look around for any sight of Neil or I. So, Neil gave them a sight. He popped up, waved at them from across the road, shot the target, and disappeared again. That's when I decided to show. I jumped on the caravan while Jason killed the two guards and I collected that caps on the caravan. Neil collected the guy's index finger waved it in the air for Rayne and the twins to see. I nodded to the three before running off with Jason and Neil.

That happened today. And Jason couldn't stop laughing.

"Damn we were awesome! Did you see the look on the twins faces. Well, one of the twin's faces. He was like 'what the fuck?' The other one was like 'Rayne is going to be so fucking pissed.' And Rayne didn't look very mad, yet. But that was awesome! Nice shot, kid!" Jason punched Neil softly.

"Wait, you don't think Rayne will be that mad, do you?" Neil asked and rubbed his arm where he got hit.

I shrugged in response and took the finger from him.

"Hey, Nattie. Can we go to Vegas?" Jason asked.

"Why?"

"To celebrate, of course! Come on! We just showed Rayne's group who's really the best! We'll go cash in the finger later." He grabbed the finger from me. After looking at it for a little he threw it to Neil. "Please, we haven't been in so long. Besides, we can spend all these caps we get from the caravan. The pay we'll receive for the finger is quite a big number."

I sighed before smiling. New Vegas wasn't that far away. And we did do a lot of work. "Fine, you two deserve a break. Let's head to Vegas."

* * *

**Nattie**

"Let's go to Gomorrah." Jason grabbed my hand.

"Okay, fine." I smiled as he dragged Neil and I to the casino. After getting most of our weapons taken, we sat at the bar.

"Beer, please." Neil told the bartender.

"Whiskey for me." I smiled and he smiled back.

"And I'll have a vodka, my good sir!" Jason ordered.

"You're crazy, Jason." I laughed and shook my head.

"Today was the best day of my life." He smiled at the thought. The bartender brought us our drinks and we each took a sip.

"Seriously, will Rayne be mad?" Neil asked again.

"Not per se mad, more like surprised that you'd wake the sleeping beast. I got to give it to you that was nice distraction, not a smart one, but it still worked. Never forget that in the bounty hunter business, someone always dies." Rayne walked over to us in a very low cut, very tight, very short dress. "If I remember correctly, Jason, you owe me a drink."

"Babe, of course I'll buy you a drink." He pulled a few caps out of the bag. "Nice dress by the way." He winked. "What do you want, babe? Beer, whiskey, vodka?"

"Absinthe." She smirked. "The dress is not for you."

"You got it. And I wish I was that lucky man. Damn it's sexy."

"I know, that's why I'm wearing it."

"Who's the lucky dude? Another target?" Jason kept looking her up and down.

"No, not exactly. I have a few debts and I have to find some way to pay them off, it was easy when I was the only bounty hunter out there." She shrugged. "Reminds me of the old days."

"Why don't you just pay with caps? You said you had plenty?" Neil asked.

"I do, it's just more fun this way."

"'Fun' is definitely not the word I'd use." He rolled his eyes.

"Hey, shut up. Fun is the perfect word. It's fun watching her walk around in outfits like that. It's also fun to be the guy she's paying." Jason pushed Neil lightly.

"I think you need to teach your boys how to keep their dicks in their pants." She looked over at me. "You may even want to fulfill a few of their desires."

"Who said we had any desires?" Neil snapped.

"I've tried to teach them. But boys like these two never listen." I shook my head.

"He's the one who doesn't listen." Neil motioned to Jason who was checking out yet another girl.

Rayne tsked. "You don't want her, she's not all that great looking under all that material."

"That is so something I didn't want to imagine." Neil lowered his head onto the counter.

"What about that chick?" Jason nodded to another girl.

"Don't know, never seen her before. Why don't you just get with the girl next to you, she's not _too_ bad looking."

"Nattie? I would, but what if she gets all pissy?"

"I'm sitting right here, asshole."

"Drug her." She shrugged. "Kind of like what happened to Andy, oh wait we're not supposed to talk about that." She smiled devilishly.

"Andy? That was the guy at NCRCF." I looked over at Neil who had picked his head up again.

"He was drugged? I thought you said-"

"I never said how I killed him or what state he was in." Neil interrupted Jason.

"What the hell did you do, Neil?" I stood up.

He looked from Jason to me. "Rayne and I somewhat made a deal, that's all. She drugged him and took care of everything so all I had to do was slash his throat."

"So you lied to us?"

"No! I just left some information out."

"You lied to us about the job. What else happened? Did _you_ sleep with her too?"

"No, I-"

"I need some air. You lied Neil, you're the last person I'd imagine to lie to me." I walked away with Jason following close behind.

* * *

**Neil**

"I should've warned you sooner not to fuck with me." She continued to smile.

"Why did I have to learn that lesson this way? She-they probably hate me now."

"Kid, nothing is free in this world, including trust. I feed on misery and I'm almost full from what just happened."

"Well you know what's really satisfying?" I stood up from the bar stool. "_Me_ shooting _your_ target, and _me_ getting his fucking finger. And this time, I didn't need your help."

"Good for you, kid, I'm _soo _proud. Next time I'll just shoot you between the eyes so you can't feel that sense of achievement."

"Please do." I narrowed my eyes and walked past her, forcefully ramming my shoulder into her's.

"See you kid, don't forget you owe me that favor." She shoot the rest of her drink down and walked off.

"By the way! You'll never get that sight of me 'powerless and afraid' again!" I yelled after her.

She turned around and started to walk back towards me. "Don't bet on it, kid." She was face to face with me now.

"I bet a lot on it. And another by the way for you: the favor I owe you is off. You took something from me, then I take my offer to you back."

"You'll change your mind, they always do." She turned around again and walked off, this time not turning back.

I inhaled deeply. _Fuck._

* * *

**Nattie**

"Come on, Nattie. Don't be _that_ mad at the kid. He finished the job and we got the caps. Just because Rayne helped-"

"I'm not mad that she helped. I wished he would have said something about it. Or maybe had us help instead of her. Besides, he lied." I crossed my arms.

"But this kid you're mad at is Neil, remember? He needs you. That kid that you have cared about ever since you saw him beaten and broken by Isaak."

I sighed and thought for a while.

"Just slap his wrist and tell him not to do it again. And if he does, take whatever is valued to him."

"I hate you and your occasional good thoughts." I walked back into the bar area.

As soon as Neil saw me he ran over.

"I'm sorry, Nattie. I really am. I won't lie and besides, any kind of thing between Rayne and I is over. I told her off...sort of. I really am sorry." Neil looked at me with worried eyes.

"See, told you. He needs you." Jason smiled.

"Fine, don't do it again. And my trust, you'll have to regain it. Now let's go. We still have a lot of caps and I've only had one drink."

"And I need to go gamble. I'll even teach you, kid." Jason pulled out the caps.

* * *

**Nattie**

It was around two in the morning. Jason had already drank himself close to death. He had been gambling for two hours and I didn't understand why he found it so entertaining.

"Hey, guys. I'm goin' to get a room. I need to get some sleep." Neil yawned.

"Okay, need some caps?" I asked.

"No, I've got it. And I'll meet you two out here in the morning. Have fun." He waved before walking off.

"This is awesome! Do you know how many rounds of poker I've already won. I've never had this big of a winning streak." Jason said in a slurred voice.

"How many rounds have you won?"

"Three." He said casually.

"Out of how many?"

"Like, twelve. You must be my lucky charm." He laughed.

I smiled. "You are soo drunk."

"Obviously."

"Maybe we should go find rooms too." I suggested.

"No! No, not yet."

"Fine, just don't get sick out here."

* * *

**Neil**

I opened the door to my room and yawned for what seemed like the fiftieth time. I sat on the bed and brushed my hair back out of my eyes. _This is more definitely not the type of place where you just go to sleep._ I joked to myself. _I wonder if Rayne's still here. _Earlier at the bar kept coming back to me. I didn't show it much, but she did kind of scare me. _I wish these damn rooms had windows._ I placed my bag with all my clothes, water, and food down on the bed. I checked the hidden knife that was strapped to my arm. There was a quick knock on the door. I raised an eyebrow before I walked over to the door. I slowly turned the knob and opened the door, expecting Nattie or Jason. Instead, I was surprised to be met by Rayne.

"Uh, hi. Can I help you?" I asked.

"How much have you had to drink?"

"Two beers, why?"

"Just wondering, can I come in?"

"Sure." I held the door open and motioned for her to come in.

"I think we should talk." She sat down on the bed.

"About?" I leaned on the door to close it.

"Earlier."

"Right, about earlier...what part of earlier?"

"Mostly where I was talking about you and Nattie being bounty hunters. I don't hate her as much as she may hate me, I'd like to work out a deal."

"What kind of deal?" I walked over to my bag and pulled out a bottle of scotch and motioned it to her.

She waved me off. "No, I don't drink while working." She kicked off her high heels. "Sorry, they pinch."

I put the bottle back. "I wouldn't know. Anyway, the deal."

"Yes, I'd like to make a deal with you, I know you're the one who gets the bounties and tell Nattie all the information, am I correct?"

I nodded.

"I know you found out about our bounty by either getting one of the twins help or maybe even going up to the top and bribing Pete. Personally, I don't like him, so I'd enjoy killing him, but that's not what we're talking about. My deal is, you have your bounties and I'll have mine. Nattie would never know you're avoiding us, and if you need me and the twins to put on a show we'll happily do it. Also, I don't like saying this, but I'll allow you to call dibs on some of them. I'll have you keep in contact with Ryker or Aiden, whichever you prefer, where you will work out who will do which."

I leaned against a wall. "So the deal is we each have our own bounties so that we never have the same one. My first question is: what's in it for me?"

"Whatever you want: caps, sex, hell I'll even buy you a new rifle. I'm going to give you dibs on targets, plus you'll never have to worry about us taking your kill."

I walked around the room in thought. I looked at her through the corner of my eye and smiled. "My second and last question is: what if I say no to this deal?"

"I'll have one of the twins track you down, they'll tell me where you're going, I'll avoid you myself. Worst case I'll move out to Capital Wasteland. Don't think you're winning, kid. I'm doing this for myself, so I don't have to kill anyone I respect."

"I didn't even know 'respect' was in your vocabulary."

"Now you know, come on kid, you know this is too good to pass up. If you'd like I'll even throw in all three payment methods mentioned earlier."

"This is going behind Nattie's back again." I thought for a moment before shrugging. "Fine, I want caps and a new rifle. And I already told you I won't be sleeping with you. So, for me to keep this deal, I want two thousand caps and the sniper rifle has to be a nice, new rifle. Not something shitty. And I prefer Ryker. Aiden's just like Jason. And Jason's kind of like you."

"Suit yourself, kid, I promise you it will happen one day. Also, done." She stuck out her hand.

"I hope you didn't spit on it or something, you seem like the type of immature person who would." I took it and shook.

"I'm not that much like Jason."

"You drink too much and sleep with anyone you see. You're both pleasure hungry."

"Difference is I don't have to pay for my sex."

I smiled and made an 'oh, yeah?' expression.

"You better believe it."

"Nah, I better not. So, how am I suppose to contact Ryker?"

"He'll find you. I'd rather you not have to get your hands dirty." She smirked. "Are you still a virgin, women wise?"

"I'm a virgin when it comes to sleeping with women. But I don't know if being raped by a man still considers me a virgin."

"It doesn't, go find yourself a whore with the caps I'm giving you."

"I think I'd much rather buy ammo with those."

"Whatever you'd like, wait I got it. You'd rather it be with Nattie."

"Would not!" I turned away. "Besides, she likes Jason."

"A brahmin could tell that. Ever wonder why I took him that first night?"

"To get her jealous or something?"

"No, to help Jason realise that he wants someone who will stick with him. I'm really not as cold hearted as everyone thinks."

"I guess not. But you're sometimes scary...and I sometimes talk too much."

"At least you're learning."

"Why don't you stay with anyone? Sorry about asking, I just want to know." I went back to leaning against the wall.

"Out here, you quickly learn you lose everything you love. So the trick is don't fall in love."

"I know what that feels like." I slid down the wall until I was sitting on the ground. "How was a badass girl like you picked up as a bitch? Especially Benny's bitch."

"I came to Vegas, completely broke, at sixteen, I had a body and Benny had caps, drugs, and alcohol."

"But why would you ever do that...willingly? How could anyone sign up for that shit?"

"We aren't as different as you may think, I know what it feels like to have someone like Isaak." Her face saddened. "I'm not sure why we're talking about this, I haven't even told the twins this shit."

I thought for a moment. _Should I keep talking about it, or was that a hint to stop? _"Was Benny like Isaak? Or was there another guy?"

"No, Benny was good to me, well as good as a man can be to a whore."

"Can I ask who is was then?"

"A guy I use to know back in California. Let's just leave it at that."

"At age sixteen, I ran away from home. My father was abusive, to my mom, brother, and I. I grew up in the middle of nowhere, but it was a somewhat long walk to New Vegas. I had taken all my father's saved up caps so I paid for a Passport and got into Vegas. I didn't do much there except find a place to drink and relax. Of course, that place was The Tops. Isaak was at the bar with some girl. They suddenly started yelling at each other. He kept saying 'you were with _him! _Don't lie to me, I knew you were with _him!_' After she stomped off, he started a conversation with me. I didn't say anything, he just let out all of his feelings. Then he said 'you know, you're the only person who listens to me.' He offered me a place to sleep, for free. Of course I said yes. You know how you said 'nothing is free out here'? I learned that when he locked the door and hid the key. That night was scarier than my father beating me. I was sixteen and I knew nothing about the world. That's a great welcome to the Wasteland, don't you agree?"

"Where is your brother? You should never let what family you have go."

"My father killed him after he didn't tell him where I ran off to." I said quietly. "Then my mother went looking for me and was killed by a Deathclaw. How do I know this? I saw it happen. And I didn't even try to help."

"Sometimes there's nothing we can do. Come here." She motioned for me to sit by her.

I stood up and walked over to the bed before sitting next to her. "Sorry for the long story about my past."

"As long as you don't expect me to share mine, it's fine. I haven't just talked to someone in a long time."

"Same here. It was nice. Jason wouldn't listen and I don't know what Nattie would do. I'd be too embarrassed to tell her anything though."

"And you feel comfortable around me?" She put her arm around me and gave me a side hug.

"Well, you went through the same thing. You'd understand. Well, you understand the Isaak part. I'm not quite sure about your family though."

"I do, I saw my parents killed, then my sister."

"I'm sorry about that. I kind of hope my father was killed. But I doubt that. He use to work with the Enclave. He still has the armor and everything."

"Trust me, if anyone finds out about him being Enclave he _will_ be killed."

"I hope so. He scares me. Then again, lots of people do. Are you scared of anyone, or anything? You act like everything is beneath you." I paused before quickly adding, "Not in a bad way."

"I don't know, I feel like I've experienced worst things, so why should I fear it. But I really do hate Radscorpions and Cazadoras."

"Don't laugh when I tell you this...I was chased by a Cazador once."

She cracked a smile. "Don't worry, I think we all have."

"I left out the baby part before Cazador."

"They can still kill a full size man, don't worry. You know what, kid? I think I'm starting to like you."

"I hope that's good." I half smiled.

"It is."

"Well, I think I'm starting to like you too."

"Is that good?"

"I think so."

"I'll take it as a good thing then."

"I didn't believe you when you said that men who say no to your sex always change their mind, but my mind is already starting to change."

"Don't ruin the moment, kid. For the first time in a year, I'm not thinking about sex."

"Alright, well, when you're off the job, I'll buy you a drink. I think we're going to be in Vegas for a while. And I'll try and contact Ryker soon. Nattie is wanting to find a place for us to stay soon, so we might be doing that once we leave here."

"Are you kicking me out already?" She smiled. "The twins and I live here, well I own a room here, but we camp a lot. If you even need to borrow it, go for it. It's normally a wreck though."

"Well thanks, and by the way, I'd rather you not leave at the moment. I'm just promising you a drink someday."

"I appreciate that."

* * *

**Nattie**

"Jason, wait up." I called after him as he ran up the stairs.

"Neil said he was in...this room!" He pushed the door open and it slammed into the wall. "Oh, hey Rayne." He smiled lazily.

I still hadn't made it to the doorway. _Rayne?_ I walked up next to Jason and saw Neil and Rayne sitting on the bed. "What the-what's going on?" I asked.

"Neil and I were, well I was apologizing about earlier." She smiled at me.

"Is this true Neil?"

"Yeah, she just came up to say sorry. That's all. What were you two doing?"

"Noth-"

"I tried to kiss her and got slapped in the face." Jason stated.

Rayne burst out laugh. "Told you so." She looked over at Neil.

Neil smiled as Jason, probably from all the alcohol, started laughing.

"It was because we were in public…" I moved some hair behind my ear.

"Kissing in public-"

I cut Neil off. "Is embarrassing and not polite."

"You do understand this is the wasteland, not the old-world times. Having sex on someones table is considered okay." He crossed his arms and continued to smile.

"He's got a point." Jason looked back at me.

"Well this isn't about me and kissing, is it? This is more about what you two were doing."

"Everything's fine, Nattie. We were just talking about earlier. You and Jason should go find a room."

"Or you and I could go take some shots, Neil." Rayne stood up and slipped on her shoes.

"Yeah, sounds like a good idea. You two have fun with not kissing in public." He also stood up and Rayne and him walked down to the bar.

"Something is with that kid today." I said after they were out of sight.

"Can we go to the bar too?"

"No, you've had enough to drink."

"Then we're taking Neil's room."

* * *

**Neil**

"I have a question that doesn't have a lot to do with past events: what's your favorite color?" I asked.

"Red, it reminds me of blood. Or black, like my soul."

"That was dark...I like green. Not sure why though. It doesn't exactly remind me of anything."

"Why is Nattie so on edge with you being around me?"

"I think she's worried that I'll do something stupid. She's also kind of protective. On one mission, the target was a guy with a male bitch. She didn't let me do the contact at all. She just went with Jason."

"That's...weird, she's like your mom. And you're the rebellious teenager."

"I guess. But I'm honestly fine with that. They were captured on the contract, so I'm happy I didn't get to go."

"I guess there is an upside. So, kid, tell me, how do you like being a bounty hunter?"

"I don't know. I kind of don't like it that much. It feels good when I kill someone who deserves death. But I'm not much into killing. I start to think about the target's family, and friends, and their life they could have lived."

"It's easier not to."

"I guess. But I haven't left Nattie and Jason because, as I said before, killing someone who deserves death is fun. And, I guess, I also do it because I wonder if I'll see my father or-" I stopped. "just my father."

She placed her hand on mine and squeezed. "Take another shot, it'll help."

I did. I swallowed another small drink. "Can I tell you something that's kind of my worst nightmare?"

"Sure."

"So, you know how Isaak had about twelve men? Well, those men worked for another guy besides just Isaak. There are twelve more men working for a guy by the name of Lukis. Again, that's his last name. He'd come over and talked with Isaak. I only saw his face once. He had a scar that started from his right eyebrow to the left side of his mouth. He is exactly like Isaak. He asked to buy me off Isaak. And when he said no, they stopped talking completely. But I just wonder if I'll ever see him again."

"If he comes back, kill him. If you can't Jason or Nattie will. If they can't I will."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I never actually thought you'd do that. Kill someone for me. Someone who, if I saw him, would make me rather run into a Deathclaw cave. So, thanks. You have yet again changed my mind from thinking you were heartless to you do actually have a conscious."

"I'm full of surprises aren't I?"

I nodded. "So, how do you like being a bounty hunter?"

"I don't know, I like the thrill of hunting, but it's not ideal by any means."

"What would you rather be doing?"

"Don't laugh, but I've always wanted to be an artist."

"An-an artist?!" I smiled but kept from laughing, it wasn't funny but actually kind of cute. _She doesn't strike me as the type of person into art._

She pouted her lip. "Don't be mean, here look at this." She shuffled through her jacket and extracted a paper. On it was a realistic looking portrait of a young girl.

"That's amazing." I said sincerely. "It looks almost like a photograph. How long did it take you to do?"

"Four, five hours."

"Wow. Is it based off of anyone?"

"My sister."

"You know, you're an awesome artist. Why don't you stop killing and sell your art?"

"No one cares about art out here, only death, we must live accordingly."

"Well, I'd buy your portraits. I'd probably buy any of your art. What about a shop? Shops could buy your art. Some shop must collect stuff like this."

She smiled. "Thanks, but that won't happen. I want to draw you. Stay here, I'll go grab my stuff."

"Alrighty." I smiled back as she ran off. Not too long after, she returned carrying a sketchbook and a pencil. "What should I do? Just sit here?"

"Yeah, it may take sometime so be ready."

"Okay, I'll try not to move too much."

* * *

**Neil**

"How much have you gotten done?" I asked.

"Almost, done." She finished shading in something then held it up to me.

"Wow, just like a mirror." I smiled.

She ripped it out and handed it to me. "Keep it."

"Really? Thanks. Can I show you my drawing skills?"

She held out the book to me.

"Ready for this, I'm going to try and draw you." I laughed and started to draw. After about five minutes, I decided it was done. I looked over the whole picture and laughed. "Maybe I shouldn't show you my drawing skills."

"It can't be _that _bad."

"Oh, it is." I handed her the picture with a stick figure with long, curly hair. "I told you it sucked."

"I stand corrected." She began laughing. "It is."

"Those aren't my drawing skills. That's my 'do a fast, horrible picture to make the girl laugh' drawing. I'm definitely not as good as you, but I don't suck that much."

"Well it worked."

"That's good to know. Here." I pulled a folded up paper from my pant's back pocket. "It's a car. An actual moving car. I was walking and saw how many were laying broken on the road so I drew one in the old-world days. It's an okay drawing, if I do say so myself."

"It's good, you're no Van Gogh, but no one is, unless they are."

"Nice logic." I smiled. "I wish I could see an actual working car."

"Have you seen a vertibird?"

I shook my head. "I've never heard of it. What is it?"

"It's the Enclaves helicopter, like thing."

"The Enclave had helicopters? Man, so my father can fly?" I joked. "Have you seen one?"

"No, but my ex told me about them, he lived in Capital Wasteland when they were taking over."

"Oh, well besides the terror of seeing something as big as that in the sky, that must have been kind of cool."

"Apparently he knew someone who actually rode in one, the famous Lone Wanderer."

"Lone Wanderer? They sound lucky, who is this person?" I asked and she gave me an odd look. "Sorry, I haven't been much in the loop."

"It's a story about Capital Wasteland, who knows if it's true."

"Is that the story with the vault dweller who escaped?"

"Yeah, I think."

"I don't exactly believe that story. I mean, no one gets out of those vaults. Besides, they're all too scared to step foot out here."

"I guess." She shrugged. "I'm glad we're talking, I haven't just lived in a long time."

"Yeah, it's nice to interact with people."

"People? I am only one."

"Well, yes, but I was locked up for about two years. I'm just saying in general, it's nice to interact. But, it's really nice to talk with you."

"Do you feel like a normal man talking to a girl?"

"Uh, yes? I mean, I feel like a normal guy talking to a friend he just met going to the same place he was." I shrugged.

"So, you feel more comfortable not thinking of me as a girl?"

"No, I meant…" I stopped to think about my words, "I think it's more comfortable to be talking with a girl."

She smiled at me. "Would you mind if I change quickly, this dress is not very comfortable?"

"Go ahead." I said and she walked off. I waited for a little before seeing Ryker and Aiden. I stood up and walked over to them. "Hey, um, guys. What's up?"

Aiden looked over at Ryker with a raised eyebrow. "Care to sit with us?" Ryker finally said.

"Sure." I sat down. "So, I have a question about Rayne. Has she ever told either of you about how she feels about being a bounty hunter?"

"No, not really, to be quite honest, we don't talk that much. She keeps to herself."

"Really?" I asked, covering my excitement. "Well, that's interesting."

He nodded. "Alright."

"I should, um, go back to where I was. I don't really want to be much of a bother. I'll, uh, see you guys around, maybe." I stood and walked back over to where I was before. I leaned my elbows on the counter and waited for Rayne to come back. She came back wearing black sweatpants and a tank top, her hair was now in a ponytail. "That does look more comfortable."

"It is, very much so."

"So, do you talk to other people like you've been talking to me?"

"No, never. You're the first to know about my sister, other than my ex, and he's not telling anyone anytime soon."

"Sorry for asking, but why don't you want people to know about your sister?"

"I don't know, it's kind of hard, she was so sweet so innocent, she didn't deserve to be born into this horrible place."

"There's a lot of people like that. Sometimes they're the ones who die first. Other times, they're the ones who thrive better than those who are tough and trained all their lives to conquer this place."

"Yeah, sadly that's survival of the fittest at its worst."

"I wish I was stronger. If Jason and I had an arm wrestle, he'd probably snap my arm in half."

"Then train, you don't think he got like that by sitting on his ass."

"True. I have trained a little. Him and I would spar. Of course, he won, but I've gotten better, I think."

"That's good. Kid, I think it's time for you to go to bed, feel free to bunk with us, I don't think you want to interrupt Nattie and Jason."

"That's true. Do you guys have enough space for me to bunk in your room?"

"Of course."

"Alright. And Ryker and Aiden won't mind?"

"No, they don't get an option anyways. You may have to share a bed though, sorry about that. We have two queens."

"That's fine. I am use to sleeping on the floor if that would work better." I shrugged.

"No, it's not a problem, if I begin cuddling with you, just push me off."

"Do I have to?" I raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"You don't _have _to." She smiled. "Let's go get the twins and head up stairs."

* * *

Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait. Please enjoy the third chapter of Finding You on the Corner. I hope everyone is enjoying the prologue to Shot's Fired. If you have an comments, questions, concerns, or suggestions don't hesitate to leave a comment or PM me. Thanks for reading.


	4. Chapter 4

_I do not own Fallout. Just my own ideas and characters. All Copyright goes to Bethesda._

* * *

**Nattie**

"So, where do you want to start looking for a place for us to stay?" Jason asked me.

"I'm not sure yet." I shrugged and took a sip on the dirty water.

"We could always stay here." He grinned.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Did you even count the number of drinks you had? You could have died."

"You had a lot too."

"I had a bottle of whiskey and two bottles of beer. That's nothing compared to what you did." I crossed my arms, but had a playful smile.

"Can we at least look at places within an hour of New Vegas?" He pleaded like a child.

"Possibly. It depends on which places we're welcome to stay at."

"Fine. I wonder what happened to the kid and Rayne having shots." Jason looked around.

"Why don't you ask?" I suggested and motioned to Neil who had just walked down the stairs.

"Hey, kid, come here!" Jason stood up from his seat.

"Yeah?" Neil walked over casually.

"What happened last night. Anything fun?" Jason elbowed him.

"Not much. We just talked." Neil shrugged in a calm manner.

"Oh, well that sucks." Jason sat down again.

"Not really. Everything isn't always about sex, Jason." Neil stated and sat on the other side of me.

"He'll never learn that." I smiled.

"How about you two? What happened with you last night?"

"She let me kiss her." Jason said with a smile.

"Will you stop acting like a teenage boy who just had his first kiss?" I glanced at him through the corner of my eyes.

"Maybe it is my first kiss."

"I know damn well it isn't."

"Well it sounds like you two had fun, I guess." Neil half smiled.

"There was a lot more that happened, kid. Lot's of stuff happened."

"You can shut up now, Jay."

"She even gave you a pet name?"

"It's not a pet name!" Jason glared at Neil.

"I think it is."

"Shut up and go back to where ever you were before."

"Be nice, boys."

"When are we leaving?" Neil back to me.

"Sometime tomorrow. Have you gotten us a contract again?"

"No, not yet."

"Then I'm in no rush. We've worked a lot and have enough caps to buy all the rooms in Vegas. So, have fun."

"Yes!" Jason cheered.

"I know what he's going to do: drink himself to death. What are you planning to do?"

Neil shrugged. "I'm not sure yet. I might try to find a contract."

"How do you plan on doing that?"

"Going to the Ultra-Luxe and finding a terminal."

"Why the Ultra-Luxe?"

"I've never liked them much. I'd like to hack into their systems and see what's really going on in there."

"Don't get yourself hurt. And remember to come get Jason or I," I looked over at Jason who already had a bottle of whiskey, "preferably me, once you have a target."

"I promise I will. I'll see you two later." Neil walked off.

* * *

**Neil**

I walked into the Ultra-Luxe and allowed my sniper rifle to be taken. Making sure my knife was still hidden, I started walking through the fancy looking casino. I received a few looks from the workers with masks covering their expressions. I made my way into a room that branched off in opposite ways. In the back of the room was a man standing behind a desk. And, of course, on the desk was a terminal. He smiled in a welcoming manner with a hint of unknown.

"Hello, sir. Is there anything I could help with really quickly?" He asked as I turned to walk towards one of the elevators.

"No, but thanks." Before I could make it to an elevator, he walked out from behind the desk and started making his way off into the casino area. _Well he's gone, that was easy._ I walked back over and crouched behind the desk. _Now lets hope he doesn't come back, or let's hope no one sees me. _I carefully pulled the terminal desktop down and placed it next to me. I looked around the corner of the desk to make sure no one was there again before I started hacking.

I hacked the desktop until I had full access to everything. _This looks interesting. _I opened up an email titled "Present to the Boss". I read through the letter before my eyes widened. _That's fucking disgusting._ I peeked over the desk and placed the terminal back to where it was before and casually walked out of the casino.

"Hey, Nattie?" I walked into the bar where I last saw her.

"Yeah?" She turned in her bar stool before walking over to me.

"I found a mission...but it's not exactly a bounty hunter mission."

"What do you mean? What kind of mission is it then?"

"Um...a rescue mission, I guess."

"So, explain to me what you found in the Ultra-Luxe."

"On one of the terminals, there was an email. That email was like a finalization to an order. Or, a receipt, maybe."

"Okay, what was it about?"

"It was something about a father and his daughter. But, the father is selling his daughter to the Ultra-Luxe. And you want to hear what he's selling her as?"

"...what?" She asked reluctantly.

"As food. They're going to eat her."

"Eww…" She paused for a second. "So, you want to save the girl?"

"I don't want to leave her as food."

"How old was this email?"

"It was mailed two days ago."

"Well, then hopefully she hasn't been put into their dinners yet." Nattie looked back at Jason. "He can't come along. How do you plan on doing this?"

"I was thinking we just sneak in and find her. The reply to the email said she was in the kitchen somewhere. But, I have an idea, wait here."

"We don't know how much time we have until she's killed, Neil."

"I know, I'll be back as soon as I can." I ran back up the stairs and into Rayne's room. I opened the door as quietly as I could and peeked in. "Hey, Rayne?"

"Come in." Rayne motioned for me to enter. "What do you need?"

"I know we just made a deal to not race for contracts, but I might need you on our next mission. Jason's too drunk to work and you're the only other bounty hunter I know...besides the twins."

"What is it?"

"Uh, well, it's kind of a rescue mission."

"Of what caliber?" She crossed her arms. "Are we saving a damsel in distress?"

"Um, yeah. If we don't save her, she'll get eaten." I looked down and rubbed my arm.

"Is it the White Glove Society?" She rubbed her temple.

I nodded.

"Great, is Nattie not going to help you?"

"She'll help, maybe. I don't know. But I'd like to have another person helping out."

"Fine, I'll help, but you better make sure she stays off my back or I'll force her off."

"Okay, I'll make sure to stand between the catfight." I smiled.

"I'm not that petty, kid. Get her up here, we have to change."

"Got it." I ran off to find Nattie again.

* * *

**Neil**

"Where are we going?" She asked as I led her upstairs to Rayne's room.

"Uh, just wait until we get there." I answered.

"We aren't going straight for the girl?"

"No, not yet. We've got time...hopefully." I opened the door and allowed Nattie to walk in first.

She was silent for a moment as I closed the door. "Why the hell are we up here?" She turned to look at me with her arms crossed.

"Well, we aren't going to do the mission alone. And since Jason can't help, I got someone else. I mean, what if the whole White Glove Society found us? There's a better chance we'd get out okay with another."

"You sound like you're lying again. Who is this help?"

"Her." I motioned to Rayne who was silently listening.

She nodded towards Nattie.

Nattie sighed and looked back at me. "Why-"

"Can you two just have one successful mission?"

"Hey, don't blame me, I haven't done anything. Kid, if I wanted to fuck you over I wouldn't have helped you." Rayne stood up from the dresser and walked over to us. "The outfits are in the bathroom, if you want privacy." She looked unhappy as she crossed her arms.

Nattie rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'm sorry. I'll work the best I can with her around." She walked over to the bathroom.

"Outfits?" I asked Rayne when Nattie closed the door.

"I have some old dresses that the White Gloves wear, and some masks. Seriously, what's wrong with her? What have I done to piss her off so seriously?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. She's kind of like you, she doesn't talk much. You'd have a better chance to that answer if you ask Jason. They did just sleep together."

"Don't compare her to me, I'm not a bitch to someone who's trying to help. I could've just left her tied up in Isaak's room." She sighed.

"You wouldn't really have done that, right?" I asked with a hint of fear for Nattie still being in Isaak's room.

"No, I wouldn't, I'm not that cold. I'm so glad you've learned so much from the time we talked." She frowned and turned around.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't know. I-I'm sorry." I tried.

"Okay, I'm dressed. How did you get these outfits?" Nattie walked out of the bathroom.

"I knew a guy."

"What am I wearing? You better have a tux or something. Or I'm just staying in this."

"There's one in the bathroom." Rayne said, her tone icy cold.

I sighed sadly and walked past her into the bathroom. I changed into the fancy clothing before walking back out. "Ready, I guess." I shrugged. "What's your plan, Rayne? You've done this longer."

"This is your job isn't it?"

"Fine, if we're doing this again, I say we get in there, go to the kitchen, and find a girl. Good plan?"

"Why don't you ask the 'all-mighty bounty hunter'?" She narrowed her eyes.

"It's a fine plan." Nattie crossed her arms. "But I apparently missed something."

"You missed nothing. I just made a mistake." I walked out of Rayne's room and started towards the Ultra-Luxe.

* * *

**Neil**

I stood by the front doors. "Um, what will they think of us walking in there? I know we look like we're part of their Society, but they won't be suspicious?" I looked back at Rayne who was looking the other direction.

"I don't know, you're the boss right?" She looked back at me with a deadly glare.

I turned back to the doors and quietly mumbled under my breath, "no…" I pushed the doors open and walked into the casino. I walked through the casino and bar area as if I had been there everyday. I walked back into the room where I hacked the terminal. The man was back behind the desk. He yet again smiled, this time in a friendly way. I walked over to the member's only room, I had been there once. It was almost like Isaak knew everyone here in New Vegas. I walked into the room containing a long table. Not many people were in this room at the moment. I made my way over to the kitchen door.

"Nattie, can you unlock it?" I asked her.

"Sure." She kneeled down and started working the lock while Rayne and I kept a look out.

"I said I was sorry." I whispered to Rayne.

"You're a real piece of-" she took a deep breath, "I know."

"I know I'm a piece of shit. I've been told that a lot. But I didn't mean to offend you, really."

"I wasn't going to say that, I just understand why men have to be so oblivious to what they say." She reached in her bra. "I have the key."

"Of course she does." Nattie stood up and moved out of the way.

"Take it, I'm done." She handed it to me and started to walk off.

"No, wait." I threw the key to Nattie and ran over to stand in front of Rayne. "I'm sorry for my actions and I'm sorry for hers. She probably has her reasons but please don't leave."

"Why should I even care? There's no reason for me to be with you two, neither of you really want me here other than for my resources." She crossed her arms.

"That's not true, I want you here. And Nattie will too if we get into a fight with some White Gloves."

"I thought your girlfriend could handle herself."

"She can. But she can't take five people on at once. I'm barely any help. But you know how to fight. You could save our lives."

"Fine, whatever." She pulled out a large bag. "Here are your damn caps. Ryker will get you your gun soon."

"Uh, thanks." We walked back over to where Nattie unlocked the door. I walked ahead and looked around the hallways for a moment. "Do either of you know where the freezer is?"

"Nope, I've never even been here?" Nattie answered.

"I do, we'll go through the locker room, then down the elevator. It should be the first door on the left." Rayne said coldly.

"Thanks, again." I followed her directions. We quietly walked through the locker room and waited for the elevator. No one was in it, thankfully. We went down before being met by another hallway leading into other rooms. I went to the first door to my left. I pushed it open where we were met by a small kitchen.

"It's the door at the back." Rayne pointed towards a freezer door. "You'll have to hack it." She stood up and walked over to the terminal next to the door. "Unless you'd like me to."

"Go ahead." I shrugged. Nattie looked out the door we just entered to make sure there wasn't anyone outside. Rayne started hacking the terminal, after a few moments the door unlocked and opened. A girl that looked about ten stood there shivering. She started up at us with wide eyes. I quickly took off the mask and kneeled down. "It's fine. We came to get you out." I smiled kindly. She stepped out of the freezer and looked from me to Rayne then to Nattie. "Okay, come on. Follow us. Rayne, should we go back the way we came?"

"We should. Can you walk?" She looked over at the chilled girl.

She continued to stare at us. "Maybe we should have someone carry her…" I suggested. "I'll do it, I'm not the fighter, anyways." I picked her up and started to head back out to the elevator as Nattie walked ahead of me and Rayne behind me.

"We can't carry her out there. We'll have to go the other way, if we're carrying her. At least we can blend in some." Rayne started to strip.

"Okay." I turned the girl's face away.

"I have clothes on. I'll go distract everyone, just get her out of here."

"You'll be okay doing the distraction alone?"

"Yes, Nattie will need to protect you if anything happens." She looked over to Nattie. "Keep it quiet if you need to kill anyone."

"Understood." She nodded. "Come on." Nattie and I ran off as Rayne made her way to the other side of the hallway.

Nattie, the girl, and I were about to make it out of the kitchen until we heard someone yell at us.

"What are you doing with her!?" Three White Gloves ran at us.

"Go, Neil!" Nattie ordered and I started running up to the exit of the kitchen. I opened the door and found two men heating up a brahmin with flamethrowers. I snuck by them as the girl hugged into me tightly. Once I was in the clear, I ran into the casino. Two more workers who were dealing out cards spotted me and the girl. They pulled out canes and started to chase after me. Nattie ran up behind me and attacked the two White Gloves before pulling me outside. I walked over to the fountain and placed the girl down. She stretched her feet a little before standing up.

"Hey, Nattie. Go take her and get some food and water." I pulled the black tux jacket off.

She nodded and held the girls hand as they walked slowly away. I walked back in cautiously and looked to see if Rayne was anywhere near. I didn't see her, the whole front casino was empty. I walked in fully.

"Rayne?" I whispered a little to check if she was hiding.

I walked around a little until I found where everyone else was. Rayne was being carried out of the room by three men. _Rayne?_ I thought and pushed through some people to see where they were going with her. "Hey, where are you taking her?" I pushed one of the men who glared down at me.

"We're just getting her outside, kid." He said and they continued to walk her out. They pushed her outside the casino doors and walked back to talk to the gamblers and fellow White Gloves.

"Are you okay?" I asked when I got outside.

"I'm fine." She stood up and dusted herself off.

"I'll go buy you a drink. Or I can walk you back into your room, if you'd like."

"I don't need your help, I'm fine."

"Oh, come on, Rayne. What happened to when we were talking?" I stepped in front of her again.

"What do you want from me? Do you want me to be your fucking girlfriend?"

"No, I just wanted to, I don't know, be friends like last night. I'm sorry for making you come along with Nattie and I. I just thought that you guys wouldn't hate each other afterwards."

"Of course, because doing something together makes us best friends. I don't need your help, I'm fine with how I'm living. I like you kid, I really do, but there's nothing you can do to fix my life."

"Right, I almost forgot. I'm the kid in the back who is weak and was used. I can't help anyone. I know I can't help fix anything, but I can be there when it all falls down." I walked away from her.

"That's right, run away. Don't even think twice." She sounded pissed. "I'm-" She sighed. "Fine, whatever, fuck you too."

"What the hell am I suppose to do?" I turned back to her. "You're pushing me away and telling me I can't do shit. But last night you were happy to finally have someone to talk to. Or was that the alcohol talking?"

"You have no idea, I guess I was wrong about you. If you want to have this discussion, we're going to do it somewhere private. If you'd like to talk, meet me later." She walked off towards Gomorrah.

* * *

**Neil**

It was about an hour later until I decided to walk up the Gomorrah stairs and stand next to Rayne's room's door. I stood there for a moment and thought about it. I finally knocked lightly on the door.

Aiden opened the door, when he saw me he bared his teeth. "Why are you here?"

"W-well Rayne said-never mind. This was probably a bad idea. Look, I didn't mean to do anything. So I'm sorry. Tell Rayne that, please? And I'll go."

Rayne pushed Aiden aside. "Stop saying that, don't make this sound like some relationship shit." She pushed me into the hallway and closed the door behind her. "I'm not offended by whatever you said, I don't get offended by words anymore. You apparently don't understand how bounty hunters work. Sure I shared some things with you, hell I even felt attraction to you, which is something that never happens. But that's not how things can be. You have your group and I have mine, we are rivals. I'm not going to do some Romeo and Juliet shit here."

"Does that mean we can't be friends either?"

"Why do you even want to be friends with me? I'm not someone who will make your life any better, I destroy everything I touch."

"But you listen. And you understand. And if you don't completely understand what I'm trying to explain, you at least try."

"I bet you, Nattie could do that too, I'm not the only one in the Wasteland who knows how to use their ears."

"Why did you even talk to me then? You didn't have to get shots with me. You didn't have to draw a picture of me. You didn't have to tell me things you don't tell anyone else, but you did. Why did you even bother when you're now saying we're enemies?"

"I don't know. It felt right?" She shrugged. "I don't know, maybe I shouldn't have. I'm sorry to lead you on."

"You didn't lead me on. You put a fucking mask on and acted like someone else." I narrowed my eyes.

"Maybe it's the other way around, ever think about that? Ever think that perhaps you're one of the only people who has seen me without my mask?"

"I don't care if you put one on or took it off, you don't-" I sighed. "I've got to go. And I'm expecting my rifle soon. If you'd like to act like nothing happened, then fine. We'll be complete strangers." I started to walk down the stairs. I heard a door close behind me. I turned back to see Rayne wasn't there anymore.

* * *

**Nattie**

The girl and I were sitting in the room, Neil bought, as she ate an apple. I heard the door slide open.

"She's in here." Jason opened the door as he and Neil walked into the room.

"Hey, Nattie. How's the girl?" Neil asked.

"Fine. She drank a lot of water." I smiled down as she took a big bite of the fruit.

"Can we, uh, leave? Let's find her a safe place and leave." Neil looked in another direction.

"What? Oh, come on. Let's have some fun and gamble, kid." Jason said as he opened a beer.

"No, I'd really like to leave and find a place for us to stay that isn't here."

"Well, okay. I don't know who will take her though. I'm not giving her to her father."

"I'll find out if she has a mother. The dad's name is Luis. Do you know her's?"

"No, but if you could find out about the father-"

"He lives in the vault 21 hotel."

"Alright, well come back as soon as you can find something." I gave him a somewhat worried look.

"I'll go with, to protect the kid." Jason offered and followed Neil outside the room.

* * *

**Jason**

"Why do you want to leave so badly?" I asked while we walked to the vault.

Neil shrugged.

"Kid, you're crazy. You don't like sex or New Vegas." I joked. He didn't respond at all. "Did you forget to talk or something?"

"No, I'm just working hard on finding a place for this girl." He stared straight in front of us.

"Okay, then, mister hardworker." I put my hands up in mock surrender. We walked into the vault and Neil walked over to the lady behind the gift shop counter.

"Hi, is there a man staying here by the name of Luis?"

"I can't really give you that infor-"

"Look, we need to know. There's a little girl and if we don't find out, I'll kill you now." I stepped up and glared at her.

"I last saw him in the casino area." She finally said.

We walked down the stairs and listened to the voices until we found ourselves in a room with a pool table.

"What does he-" I was about to ask.

"Hey, Luis!" Someone called.

"Found him." Neil stated and started to walk to the guy who responded to the name Luis. I grabbed Luis by the back of the shirt and pulled him away from the guy he was talking to.

"Why don't you lead us to your room, my good sir." I pulled up and he pulled at the collar of his shirt that started cutting into his neck.

"Okay, okay, I'll bring you there." He led us down a couple halls and I kept a firm grasp on his shirt. We neared one of the last rooms in this hallway and he finally turned to a door and opened it. The metal clanked as the door stayed open until we walked in. I let go of the man.

"Why the hell did you sell your daughter to the White Glove Society?" Neil glared at him as I stood behind and crossed my arms to watch.

"I-I-I," He stopped stuttering, "how did you find out about that?"

"My own little secret. Now, why. Did. You. Do it?" He pronounced.

"I needed caps. I had some people on my trail. They didn't expect me to go here. So I got some caps to buy hiding places and I paid some other people to keep me hidden."

"Who was after you?" I asked.

"Uh, a group. They were bounty hunters. The leader was a girl...um, um, it started with an 'R'."

"Rayne?" Neil asked.

"Yeah, her!"

"Shit." Neil turned back to me. He then glanced back at Luis. "I guess we should let her have you then." He shrugged.

"What? No! Please, have mercy."

"Mercy?" I asked and stood up straight with narrow eyes.

"You sold your daughter to get eaten. And you're asking for mercy?" Neil added. "Fine. We'll give mercy. Instead of giving you to Rayne and her group. We'll kill you ourselves and get the caps for ourselves."

"I like you're thinking, kid." I pulled out my pistol and aimed it at him. "Look how far those caps got you. Stuck in front of yet another bounty hunter group." I pulled the trigger. Neil walked over and cut both his index fingers off and looked at them.

"Now Rayne and her group can't have them." He wrapped them in one of Luis' shirts that was on the ground. "I'm going to look at his terminal to see what his life has been full of."

"Have fun." I grabbed the shirt and leaned against the wall. It didn't take long for Neil to have full control on the terminal.

"I found his wife." He read a little more. "It's the girl's mother. She's in Novac."

"Okay, then we'll go bring the girl to her mother's. See if the woman is trustworthy or like him then decide to leave her." We left Luis' room and headed to leave the vault hotel.

* * *

**Neil**

"Go get Nattie and the girl. I'll meet up later." I said. He nodded and I headed up to Rayne's room. I knocked on the door again.

Rayne opened the door with a frown. "What do you want?"

"Here, we had a deal." I handed her the fingers.

"I don't want them." She started to close the door.

"Wait, please?"

"No."

I pushed the door open again. "Stop being such a bitch. Take the fucking fingers." I placed them on a table.

"I don't want them, you might as well take them and get the caps." She spoke in one tone.

"You deserve them. And like I said, we made a deal. You have your contracts, I have mine."

"Fine, get out." She crossed her arms.

"And you say you're nothing like Nattie." I walked out and slammed the door shut.

* * *

**Dun dun dun! Hey awesome readers! I hope you all liked the forth chapter. Please comment and PM is you have any comments, questions, concerns, suggestions for this story or for another story. Thanks so much for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

_I do not own Fallout. Just my own ideas and characters. All Copyright goes to Bethesda._

* * *

**Nattie**

We had done a few more jobs over the last couple of weeks. However, the search for a place to stay was a little complicated. Jason wanted something near New Vegas and Neil wanted something that no one would expect.

"What if we went up there and killed all the muties. Then we could have to whole place to ourselves." Jason pointed to Jacobstown.

"We aren't killing anyone, or anything, for a place to hideout." I said sternly.

"Besides, there are a lot of Super Mutants and Nightkin up there. We don't have a chance." Neil added.

"Fine." Jason pouted. "Hey what was that?" He pointed back up to the mountain.

"No, Jason. We aren't-"

"No, seriously. I saw something explode." He cut me off.

"I saw it too." Neil was staring up near the top.

"Can we at least go check it out? Please, Nat?"

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, but if you shot one of the Super Mutants or Nightkin, I'll fucking bury you, understood?"

"Yeah, yeah. Come on." Jason led the way up the mountain.

* * *

**Nattie**

We neared the mutant populated area and it became clear to me that Jason was right, something was going on. As we got closer, I could hear yelling and gunfire. _What the hell is going on? Did the mutants get into an argument? No, that sounds more like an unradiated human voice…_

I took the lead and cautiously walked through the mountain curves until we could see inside Jacobstown.

"Who the hell are they?" Jason motioned to the humans who wasted bullets shooting at the sky to scare the mutants. Or, at least try.

"I don't know. They seem to be full of themselves. They think they can do anything." I shrugged.

"How did you get that information?" Jason looked at me with a surprised expression.

"They're trying to make a big show. They want people to see them as the big group who took the mutants down. But, they're clouded by selfish actions. They are also scared to take the Super Mutants and Nightkin down so they're trying to get them to run away instead of having a giant fight." Neil answered for me.

"No one asked you, kid."

"But I would have answered the exact same way." I half smiled. "Come on, let's go take these jokers down." I moved into the small town. I quickly pulled out my dual pistols and pointed each one at two different attackers. Jason held his gun lazily at his side and waited for a move. Neil had his own sniper rifle out which was lowered for the time being. "Alright, kids. I think you've had enough fun. Why don't you get out of here before the rest of the mutants get out here to rip you limb from limb."

"Who the fuck are you three?" One of them yelled at us and aimed his gun from the sky to us.

"What does it matter?" Jason looked at his gun to intimidate the men.

"Look, we got here first. We don't want any competition." Another growled. There were about five or six men here. They were stupid to think they could take out the mutants with such a small number. A few of the mutants slammed through the doors of the town's lodge. I shot one of the men who was about to attack one of the Super Mutants. I then placed my guns back in their holsters and watched the mutants attack the men. I waved for Neil and Jason to do the same with their weapons.

After the six men were brutally killed, one of the Super Mutants walked over to us. "You didn't came here with them. I only saw those six. Unless you are back up." He said unsurly.

"We just came to help, though it seemed you didn't need any. We don't know these men."

"Well thank you, I'm Marcus. The leader of Jacobstown." He greeted, his voice didn't sound as deep, like most of the other Super Mutants.

"Nice to meet you, Marcus. I'm Nattie. That's Jason and that's Neil." I motioned to the boys beside me.

"You kept all of my kins death at a zero. Is there anyway I can repay you?"

"No, unless you have a place we can call home." Jason looked around.

"You are looking for a home?"

"A place to stay, to hideout in." I answered.

"Well, some of those houses don't have owners. If you don't mind living in a place filled with mutants, you're welcome to stay. I think."

"Well thanks, but-"

"Can you give us a moment to talk, please?" Jason grabbed my hand and pulled me a few feet from Marcus. "We can't give this up. It's near New Vegas and we aren't going to find a place to rest anytime soon."

"But I don't want to put all of them in danger. What is we get an enemy that wants us dead so badly they find we live here and kill everyone. These mutants don't deserve that, Jason."

"Come on, Nat. They're letting us take one of the homes. And they're in no danger, they're strong. You did just see how they killed all those men."

"That was five men, Jay. Not an army."

"Yeah, so. We'll protect them, if we're here."

"Besides, it is pretty unpredictable that we're living here." Neil put in.

I sighed and thought silently. "Fine." I finally said. We walked back over to Marcus. "We'll take it, thanks so much again."

"It may need to be picked up a little, but any of us can help you. Well, not all of us. If anyone gives you any problems, come talk to me. Being the leader, they normally don't go against my judgments and you saved us from a war. We normally don't like to attack humans. But I guess we had to."

"Yeah, and you can blame it all on us." I smiled. "Well, have a good day, Marcus." We walked over to the house he had pointed to earlier. He was right, it needed to be picked up a little. The beds were knocked over and some papers and trash scattered around the floor. There was a small living area, a door that led into the kitchen, and a short hallway that branched off into the bathroom and two bedrooms.

"Yay! We finally have a secret hideout." Jason smiled.

* * *

**Nattie**

Having a place to rest was nice. We had already cleaned up everything and picked out our own little spots. After Jason said something about him and I sharing a room, Neil insisted it was okay to know Jason and I'd be sleeping together. So, Neil received his own room and Jason and I took our own to share. We had stocked the kitchen with food and the living area was now comfortable with a small couch, table, and radio. Neil spent a lot of his time on his terminal where he got word of contracts, and Jason had his own 'secret' stash of drugs and alcohol. I was finally able to do something that got both Jason and Neil happy.

* * *

**Neil**

Nattie and Jason both knew I left some mornings to go head off and do something unknown, but I'd always say I was going out for a small walk. Which wasn't a complete lie, I just wasn't telling them the whole truth. I followed the road down the mountain. Sometimes I'd get all the way down, other times, I made it about halfway until Ryker jumped down from somewhere in front of me. It wasn't much of anything, Ryker and I exchanged information about our next move then we were off.

"I didn't get many choices on jobs today." I shrugged.

"And?"

"Well, I'd like to make sure I'm not taking your team's contract."

"You have dibs, it doesn't matter what we pick." He crossed his arms.

I inhaled deeply. "What the hell did she tell you to make you and Aiden hate me so much?"

"We don't ask. All I know is that you were the last one seen with her and now she's pissed."

"I didn't do anything though." I looked in another direction. "How about this, I don't want dibs this time. Just pick whatever you'd like. I'll tell my team we're taking a break." I brushed some hair out of my face. "I don't know what the fuck I'm suppose to do to make Rayne not pissed anymore. So I apologize that she's so pissed."

"There's nothing you can do, luckily for you, you don't have to deal with her." He looked angry. "That's not the deal we agreed to, we keep our word."

I looked back with narrowed eyes. "Well don't keep your word this time. Take whatever fucking job you want. Maybe I don't want to do this deal anymore. No one, even Rayne, can do anything to make that change."

"Fine by me, at least I won't have to come up here anymore. By the way, you've gave us your location." He smirked. "Thing is I don't have the power to do that, you'll have to talk to Rayne."

"And why would I want to go talk to her again. Her and I are strangers. I'll just stop coming down here and going to New Vegas won't be a thing I do. I'm not talking to her, she doesn't even want to. It'll just be a race sometimes, I guess. But tell Rayne, that if we do have the same target, please leave Nattie and Jason out of it. If you see us, don't shoot at them. They didn't know anything about this. And it was _my_ idea to break it. Just tell her, it's off." I turned away and started walking back up the mountain.

"You sound scared of her, trust me, if she wanted you dead you'd be dead already. If she didn't want to have contact with you, she wouldn't have. And also, she told you what would happen if you said no to the deal." His anger was obvious in his tone.

"So what if I'm scared?" I sighed and took a moment. I finally turned back around, "I don't want dibs. I feel like I'm taking everything from Ray-" I stopped, "you're team."

"Who cares? We don't need the caps, we don't need the practice, we don't need the reputation."

It was silent for a moment. "If you weren't here under Rayne's order, what would you be doing? What would you do up here if Rayne said you were free to do whatever you wanted to, instead of corporate and talk with me? You sound as pissed as I'd imagine Rayne."

"Then you've never seen her pissed."

"You didn't answer the question."

"I don't know and I don't care."

I crossed my arms. "Why doesn't Rayne have any of us killed?"

"Because she respects you. She respects anyone who is brave enough to challenge her, that's why she became friendly towards you, because you seemed like you didn't fear her."

I half smiled and looked at something else. "She must be mistaken. I'm not challenging her at all. Nor is Jason. Nattie is though. The only person she should respect is Nat. And Rayne scares me a lot, unless we're talking like we did that one night in Vegas."

"Well, then she was wrong, too bad." He shrugged. "I don't give half a shit about what happens here, if you keep it up, we'll continue doing as we are now. If you break it off, we'll move to Capital Wasteland for a year, maybe The Pitt, but that won't change how she feels towards you. She likes the competition, why else would she let you live? She enjoys knowing someone will always be there to take the caps if she doesn't. She's letting you strengthen, to become popular, to thrive, to succeed. If that means we're moving to The Pitt, so be it."

"Fine! I won't break off the deal. We'll take the target in-"

Ryker cut me off. "Kid, that was the best compliment you can get from Rayne, take it."

"Whatever, cool, thanks."

He narrowed his eyes. "You're a prick."

"You wouldn't understand." I crossed my arms. "And you're quite a jerk yourself."

"Like I care? Your words won't hurt my feelings."

"I never wanted to hurt your feelings."

A figure was running towards us, after it came closer I could see it was Aiden. He spoke between pants. "Ryker, we need to go, she's not doing well." He placed his hand on Ryker's shoulder.

"How bad?"

"She's coughing up blood, doc says there may be some internal bleeding."

"Alright, give me a second." Ryker looked over at me. "Take anyone you want, take them all if you'd like, I'll meet up with you later."

"Wait a second. What happened to Rayne?"

"Nothing that concerns you." Aiden growled.

"What if I can help? I don't want to just walk away without knowing what's going on with her."

"Too bad, because that's exactly what's going to happen."

"Oh, really? Says who?"

"We don't have time." Ryker looked over to Aiden and started jogging off.

"Says I." Aiden growled once again and started after Ryker.

I rolled my eyes. _Yeah right. _I ran up to Jacobstown to find Nattie to tell her I'd be gone a little longer.

* * *

**Neil**

After telling Nattie the two jobs we had, and explaining I had something important to find for the contracts, I quickly started my way towards New Vegas.

After a while of jogging, I found myself in front of the Freeside gates. I walked through the King's gang's town before heading into New Vegas. I ran over to Gomorrha and headed up to the rooms. I quietly pushed the door to Rayne's room open.

"I'm fine, honestly." Rayne stood up from the bed clutching her side. "Please, just quit asking, you didn't have to get Ryker." She was extremely pale.

"Ray, sit down, please." Ryker tried to sit her down.

"I'm fine, nothing can kill me, we've been through this before." She looked over towards the door and spotted me. "Who invited you?"

"No one, actually. I just overheard something was going on." I shrugged and stepped more into the room.

"Then why are you here?" She crossed her arms.

"I wanted to try and help…" I mumbled.

"I don't need anyone's help."

"Yes, you do. You aren't looking that good. And, unlike what you said, it looks like you could die from this."

"I've been through it before on my own, I don't need any help now."

"Then what _do_ you need?"

"Nothing, as I said before."

"I don't know about them," I motioned to the twins, "but I don't want to just leave you here to die."

"We're not leaving." Ryker spoke up.

"And I'm not going to die. Why does it even matter? We don't know each other remember?" She smirked.

I looked away without answering.

She walked back over to the bed and laid down.

"I'm going to help." I finally said and leaned against a wall.

"With what? What is there to do? There's no magic potion you must go on a quest for."

"Then I'll stay right here and keep you from dying when you start coughing up blood." I glanced at Aiden before looking back over at Rayne.

She punched him in the gut. "I didn't cough up any blood."

I raised an eyebrow. "What was with the lie? Did you know she wasn't coughing up blood, Ryker?"

"You're not very good at catching lies are you, kid?" Rayne raised an eyebrow too.

"Not when I think it's important. And, knowing my history, I'm not good at seeing through people's acting."

"What will it take to get you out of here?"

"Well, first, I want to know why he lied."

"He didn't that's what I was saying. God kid, you're not very fast."

"Oh, don't worry, I got that you were lying. But that doesn't make me want to leave. Like I said, I want to help. When did this start happening?"

"When I got fucking shot! How dumb are you?"

"I didn't know you were shot. Was it at the Ultra-Luxe?"

"No?" She looked at me with narrowed eyes.

"Fuck." I stood up from my leaning position and walked in a small circle with my hand running through my hair. "Fuck. I'm sorry, I didn't know. I knew you shouldn't have done that fucking distraction by yourself."

"Why are you so dumb? I didn't get shot there, it's not your fault. Now will you get out?"

"Where were you at when you got shot?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Because it fucking does. Where were you and do you know who did it?"

"I was shot by Caesar's assassins, I got hit in the hip, I killed them all, I'm fine."

"She also got hit in the lung." Ryker added.

She hit him. "I'm _fine_."

"No, you're not. Why do you keep insisting you're fine when you obviously aren't? Why are you pushing away help? Are you wanting death or something?"

"I was shot, it's nothing new. It was a 9mm, I'm fine."

"You were shot in the lung. What happens if it collapses and you suddenly can't breath? Does that still qualify as fucking fine?"

"I was shot _near_ my lung, I have no internal bleeding, I bit my cheek when I got shot, and I'm doing alright."

"That's just a little hard to believe." I crossed my arms and went back to where I was leaning.

"I don't care if you believe it or not, it's the truth."

"Really? Because, so far, the only truth I've gotten has been from those two."

"Would you like to see it? Would that make you leave?"

"I'm not sure, yet." My eyes narrowed.

"What. The fuck. Do. You want?"

"To know you're okay." I said in a quieter voice.

"And how do I make you believe that?"

"When I see you looking like yourself again."

"That's going to be some time, I haven't had time to tan yet." She cracked a smile.

"That's not what I meant. When I seriously see that you really are fine." I ignored the joke.

"I don't know what to tell you, I'm going to sleep, feel free to stay."

"Just, don't die." I sat on the floor against the wall. I looked up at the twins. "Sorry, curiosity got the best of me, I guess."

Aiden glared at me and Ryker looked away.

I shifted so my back was turned to the bed and the twins. _Hopefully Rayne would wake up and feel a little better. Or, I guess, most of all, I hoped that she wouldn't die in her sleep._

* * *

**Neil**

A foot to my side woke me up. "Shh, stay quiet." Rayne held a hand out towards me.

I grabbed the hand and she pulled me upward. "What are you doing? Shouldn't you be resting?" I whispered in question.

"Who cares, they're asleep. Let's go get something to drink." She opened the door and walked out of the room. I looked back at the twins before following after her. She sat at the bar and ordered herself a drink. I walked over and sat beside her.

"I hope you're feeling somewhat better."

"I'm fine, I've been fine, I told you that."

"I know. I was worried you were just saying that."

"What else do you want me to say?"

"I don't know." I shrugged.

"Won't Nattie worry about you? You're mother will want you home before dinner." She smirked.

"It should be okay, I think. I had her and Jason do two contracts. She shouldn't be too worried, I told her I probably wouldn't be able to join them at all. Besides, I've wondered off before to where I was going for three days. Of course, she does say she was worried about my well being and all, but it should be okay, hopefully."

"You sound like a child."

I sighed. "Compared to normal wastelanders my age, yeah."

"Would you like to be shot?"

"No, I want to die doing something heroic. But I wouldn't really like that to happen anytime soon."

"Are you saying you'll die if you're shot?"

"Probably, yeah."

"Luckily I'm not you." She took a alcoholic shot.

"Yeah, that is lucky. The wasteland needs a tough bounty hunter like you."

"Not need, want, useful, but no one needs me."

"Yeah, people like-" I paused before changing the subject. 'Where did you find the twins?"

"In New Reno, Aiden was drunk and dying, Ryker needed money."

"Aiden is a lot like Jason."

"Whatever you say."

"Who was your first kill? As in, contracted target kill."

"I can't remember it's been so long."

"So, you've been doing this for quite a while. Wow, when did you start?"

"Depends on what you mean, first person I killed for money was went I was fourteen or fifteen. First offical kill as a true bounty hunter was two years back. By the way, Nattie knows she can take in contracts for more caps right?"

"Yeah, I'm normally the one dropping fingers and contracts off. But I normally don't turn contracts in. We don't really want that many caps, I guess." I shrugged.

"Sure, whatever you say."

"How many times are you going to say that?"

"As many times as I please."

"Right." I rested my chin on my arm that was on the bar counter. "Why was Caesar's assassins after you?"

"Long story."

"Cool…" I trailed off. "How would the twins feel finding out you aren't resting? Hopefully they'll be okay with it, right?"

"They don't give a shit, they know they can't stop me from doing anything."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but do they care at all?"

"Hell if I know."

"What a great, trusting team."

"At least we work well together."

"My team works fine. Jason sometimes messes around, but during the job, he's normally focused."

"I wasn't insulting you."

"Well, I still think you're team should care a little more. Losing one of your teammates should be something tragic. Not something blocking the way until the two left can get onto the next job."

"I'm not going to die."

"I'm not saying you will, but what if Ryker or Aiden does?"

"I don't know, it'd suck to have to find someone else to work with us. Don't get me wrong I care about them, why else would I have helped them?"

"I don't know, you respect them just like you respect my group. The only reason Nattie and Jason are still alive. Other than the fact you're trying to make us stronger."

"I care for them, they're my brothers, metaphorically."

"Well, Aiden _really_ doesn't like me."

"And Jason and Nattie really don't like me. So what?"

"Jason likes you." I shrugged.

"Only because I sucked his dick."

"Not everyone likes you because you sucked their dick."

"Like who?"

"Me."

"You count now?"

"I am a guy, when didn't I count?"

"Not that way. More like, are you done pouting?"

"Yeah, I didn't mean what I said. I was just mad about how things were going, I guess."

"And you think everything is peachy for everyone else?"

"I guess not...sorry."

She just looked away, towards the stripper.

"If you'd like me to go, I'll leave." I also looked away, in the opposite direction of Rayne.

"Oh, now you'll leave? Are you sure you won't just stalk me?"

"I can see how much I'm obviously not wanted."

"I'm fine, I don't need any help, you don't need to be here."

"I just wanted to make sure you were alive and okay. Besides, I proved Aiden wrong."

"How so?"

"He said that I wouldn't be coming up here to check on you. And I did, even though he said he'd keep that from happening."

"Well good for you." She fake clapped.

"Sorry, I sound like a dick." I laid my head back down on the counter in shame.

"Why are you so sensitive? You take everything to extremes."

"I don't know how to answer that."

"Kid, you really should grow up. You understand you're a bounty hunter now, you need to be strong. What will it take?"

"I don't know, facing my fucking fear?"

"And what is that?"

"I told you: seeing Lukis. But no, I'm _not_ facing that fear."

"Then what else will help. I'm not saying be a dumb ass and get captured by him, just do something that will help you grow up."

"But getting captured is obviously what I do best." I joked a little.

"Kid, I'm being serious; what will help?"

"I don't know. I haven't been out here, alone, long enough to realize my other worst fear."

"Not just fears, there are other things you can do. Like get a tattoo, fuck a hooker, I don't know."

"I'm not fucking anything. And that tattoo thing has already happened…" I said the last part quieter.

"Why don't you want to fuck someone? Are you gay?" She paused a moment. "I want to see it."

"No, I'm not gay…" I pulled my shirt up to reveal an eagle on the left side of my chest.

"An eagle? Are you trying to reminisce about the old-world?" She touched my chest with cold fingers.

"I didn't have freedom, so I had to remind myself that the word meant something."

"I like it." She traced the outline.

"Besides Isaak, you're the only one who knows it exists."

"Well, aren't I lucky?"

I shrugged. "Do you have any?"

"Quite a few." She smirked and lifted up her shirt and turned around. Ink swirled all over her back and front, some tracing up her chest others towards her waist.

"Wow. Does it have a deep meaning?" I was afraid of placing my hand on her.

She laughed. "No, they don't. You can touch me, I won't bite."

"You sure?" I smiled and traced one of the lines.

"When did you get get yours?"

"A few weeks after I ran away from home. After both my brother and mother were killed. What about you? When did you get this one?"

"I can't remember, I got them over time."

"What triggered your need for another tattoo?"

"I don't know, I just wanted it." She shrugged.

"So, with Nattie being all pissy to you-"

"Because she's a murderer who doesn't care." I heard Nattie's voice.

Rayne turned around. "And? This is not new information."

"You broke into our house and killed my father. Yes, he wasn't that great of a man and he probably deserved death. But that death you gave him was unnecessary. He begged for mercy but you didn't stop because it depended on the job. And you didn't even bother to take him away from the house. He screamed through the house for his whole family to hear. The only things you care about are sex, drugs, alcohol, and caps. And when his mother and two daughters came out because you were gone: he was mutilated. He didn't even look human anymore. Then my mother dies from fucking starvation for the lose of her husband. Then my sister is taken from me to be a sex slave. And I was left alone. Because you didn't care."

Rayne stood up and stepped closer to Nattie. "He got what was coming to him, that man deserved a painful death. It's not my fucking fault if you got screwed over in the process. Why are you even here? To bitch at me? To make me feel bad? To make me say 'sorry'? To make me pay? It happened four fucking years ago, get over it, you didn't even like the piece of shit."

"Jason and I split up to finish the two missions alone so it would get done faster. When I finished, I thought it would be good to go find Neil. And here he is, with you. I thought he was working. And I may have hated my father, he wasn't a very good man, but he didn't deserve the pain. My mom and sister didn't deserve the pain. Why don't you watch the twins or anyone special to you get tortured like that? To the point where they're begging. How would you feel?" Nattie turned around and started walking away.

"Wait, Nattie." I ran after her. "Come on, she's not that cold hearted. It's a sad story, but she isn't always like that. If you just get to know her-"

"Why the fuck should I get to know her?"

"I do know how you feel, don't act like you're the only one who knows what it's like to beg for someone elses life. I wasn't killing you father for my job, it was solely payback. You may not know what that man did when he left your family for weeks at a time, but I do." Rayne crossed her arms, keeping a straight face.

"I'm not about to feel bad for you."

"Nat. You could at least listen, she listened to you."

"I'm not asking for your pity, I just don't want you to know that he did in fact deserve everything that happen. I'm honestly sorry you got caught in the crossfire, but that's a small price to pay, for the things that he did to other families."

"What did he do that was so fucking bad?"

"With me? Nothing that I want to talk about. What he did to many others? He enslaved them. Took the men sent them to work camps, some to fighter guilds, or even raider. Women they'd be sent to brothels, other places where all they'd do was suck dick. And children, they were killed if they couldn't be marked as useful. Hell, even some of them he'd have fun with them before they were sent off or killed." Rayne clenched her fist.

Nattie was quiet for a moment. "What are you doing here with her? Are you deciding to join her?"

I quickly glanced at Rayne before looking back at Nattie. "No, I was just helping-"

"Come back to Jacobstown if you're still working with Jason and I." Nattie walked away.

"Are you some fucking pet to her?" Rayne crossed her arms.

"No," I sighed. "She normally doesn't act like that…"

"You don't have to go with her. You can stay here." She placed her hand on my shoulder. "Honestly."

"I wouldn't want to anger the twins."

"They'll be fine with you if I am. Really, kid, you can stay here. I'll support you. Hell, if you'd like to support yourself you can. I'll train you myself."

I thought for a little before smiling. "Okay. Thanks."

"Cool, I'll go tell the twins, wait a few minutes before you come up." She jogged upstairs. I looked back where Nattie left. _Sorry, Nat..._I thought. After a while of waiting, I slowly made my way upstairs.

* * *

**Neil**

I opened the door to see Rayne and the twins sitting on the bed together.

Ryker stood up and walked over towards me. "Welcome." He smiled. "Sorry about earlier, we were all just stressed with having a pissed off Rayne."

"Uh, thanks, and it's fine."

He whispered. "Aiden's just cranky, he'll get use to you."

"Alright. And I apologize for my actions earlier too."

"I'm sorry about the lack of beds. You can either sleep with me or one of the twins. Or I guess I could move a couch in here, if you'd like." Rayne said.

"Uh, I don't mean to offend anyone but I'd choose you," I motioned to Rayne, "or a couch."

"Up to you, the twins sleep together, mostly, so it won't change anything."

"I don't want to make you spend money on a couch. Nor do I want to make anyone bring one in here."

"I don't care, as long as you're fine with sharing my bed." She shrugged.

I also shrugged. "Not the first time we shared one."

"You make that sound dirty, sadly it's rather innocent." She smiled at me.

"Well I apologize for the lack of perogitory quotes."

"You better make up for it soon."

I smiled. "Maybe."

"Well, kid, we're free for a few days, until I get a new contract. Feel free to do anything, you know where the caps are, feel free to take as many as you want."

* * *

**Hi everyone! I hope you all liked the fifth chapter! Please comment or PM if you have any comments, questions, concerns, or suggestions. Thanks!**


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